Jhulan Goswami's World Cup semifinal jersey to adorn walls of Kolkata's Museum

The Indian Women’s team enjoyed a successful outing in the recently concluded WWC, finishing as the runners up in the tournament. And a key cog in the team’s success was veteran Indian fast bowler, Jhulan Goswami. Now, as a mark of respect and honor, the Indian pacer’s World Cup semifinal winning jersey will don the walls of Fanattic Sports Museum in Kolkata.

34-year-old Jhulan’s jersey will share the 7000 square feet space with the likes of Pele, Usain Bolt, Roger Federer, Abhinav Bindra, Sachin Tendulkar, Vishwanathan Anand and PV Sindhu among others. Fanattic sports, India’s first multi-sport museum’s collection has a wide landscape of such valuables.

It includes Bindra’s signed gloves from 2008 Beijing Olympics, Pele’s autographed jersey, Bolt’s shoes and the British Empire-Indian passport of Col CK Nayudu, first Indian cricket captain, and his Bank of Allahabad passbook showing a balance of Rs 306.

Reminiscing India’s sensational 36-run victory over defending champions Australia in the Women’s World Cup semifinal, Jhulan was quoted as saying by Firstpost, “A lot of memory is attached with this jersey. The jersey I wore in the final is the Lord’s along with (captain) Mithali Raj’s. I have heard the museum has an amazing collection, so hope this sporting memorabilia will inspire youngsters to take up the sport.”

The Indian women’s returned to a warm welcome

Following their return, the Indian squad has received warm gestures with gifts and blessing being showered. Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi felicitated the Women’s’ team in a special ceremony at the national capital. Earlier, team heroes Harmanpreet Kaur and Sushma Verma also received offers for the post of DSP in their respective state police forces.

The Indian team’s heroic performance created ripples which have now embossed the younger generation of women cricketers. The Mithali Raj-led team narrowly missed out on lifting their maiden World Cup trophy. However, despite the loss in the finals, the journey of the Indian eves in the quadrennial event was remarkable.