'We are proud of you girls' - Virat Kohli tweets for India women's team on reaching T20 World Cup Final

The Women in Blue have scripted history after that made their way into the final of the ICC T20 World Cup for the first time since its inception in 2009. The fact that the Harmanpreet Kaur-led team had stayed unbeaten and at the top of the pile in the league-stage served them well on the day of the semi-finals as persistent rain at the Sydney Cricket Ground meant England were knocked out of the tournament without a ball being bowled in the 1st semi-final.

According to the rules laid down for the tournament by the International Cricket Council, no reserve days were allocated for the semi-finals and a minimum of ten overs/side (as compared to five in a normal game) were needed to constitute a game. But persistent rains at the SCG ensured that the game was called off even before the toss could take place.

Virat Kohli posts his congratulatory wishes for the Women in Blue

But, India doesn’t care. neither do their well-wishers. Post India reaching their maiden finals, wishes have galore for Harmanpreet and her girls. Virat Kohli, Indian Men’s captain took to Twitter to post his good wishes for the Women in Blue.

“Congratulations to the Indian Women’s team on qualifying for the @T20WorldCup final. We are proud of you girls and wish you all the luck for the finals. @BCCIWomen.” Virat wrote on Twitter.

Congratulations to the Indian Women's team on qualifying for the @T20WorldCup final. We are proud of you girls and wish you all the luck for the finals. 🇮🇳👏 @BCCIWomen

— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) March 5, 2020

That said, the semi-final once again exposed ICC’s shortsightedness as they didn’t schedule a reserve day for the semi-finals and England skipper Heather Knight had a rather cheeky message for everyone, who has in the past complained about the fickleness of the English weather.

“It would be nice not to have the jokes about English weather now. 2017 was the least canceled game of any tournament around the world,” Heather Knight said as quoted by Cricket NDTV.

India captain Harmanpreet Kaur, on the other hand, said while it will be good to have reserve-days in the future, the rules of the tournament were known to everyone beforehand, which is why her side ensured that they won every game in the league stage.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t get a game, but there are rules and we have to follow it. Having reserves day in the future will be a great idea. From Day 1, all teams knew about the no reserve day policy so we wanted to win every game and not leave anything to chance,” Kaur said.

This is the first time that India has progressed past the semi-final stage after three unsuccessful attempts in 2009, 2010 and 2018.