The crushing defeat in Sunday's final against Australia will haunt Harmanpreet Kaur and her team but the cricket-mad country reacted with maturity to the setback and support poured in for Kaur's team, which included several teenagers.
Star all-rounder Harmanpreet Singh was on Tuesday named captain of the Indian women's cricket team for the five-match T20 series against South Africa, starting February 13 in Potchefstroom.
'Harmanpreet Kaur will lead India for the first time in a global event and I think she is up for the challenge both as a captain and as a player'
Harmanpreet Kaur's parents will remain in Australia to watch India play in the Final at the MCG, which will take place on her 31st birthday.
'I never look at my individual score when I'm batting. I only look at the team total.'
The three-match T20I series thus ended 2-1 in favour of India, who stuttered after opting to bat before skipper Harmanpreet Kaur's resilient 39 not out (33b; 3x4, 1x6) propped up their total to 138 for five.
India Women inched closer to victory as they bundled out their South African counterparts for a meagre 234 and then reduced them to 83 for six after forcing a follow-on on day three of the one-off Test match in Mysore.
Smriti Mandhana struck a sublime half-century as India finally produced a good batting display to record a seven-wicket win over Australia in Melbourne on Saturday, keeping their hopes alive for a place in the final of the women's T20 tri-series. Australia posted 173 for 5 courtesy of a quickfire 57-ball 93 from Ashleigh Gardner and Meg Lanning's 22-ball 37 after India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur elected to field at the Junction Oval.
Jemimah Rodrigues's vital knock on return to secure a convincing 34-run victory
Mithali Raj has held onto her second spot in the batting ODI rankings, while Smriti Mandhana has risen four slots to take the eighth spot.
'After further assessment, Smriti was diagnosed with a mild soft tissue injury to her left earlobe which caused discomfort while batting and therefore she had to leave the field retired hurt.'
Indian women's cricket team coach Tushar Arothe resigned on Tuesday after his position became untenable due to alleged differences with some of the star players, who had protested against his training methods.
Raj rescued her side from a precarious 27/2 but India's total of 201 for eight was not challenging enough for England
Harmanpreet Kaur, who guided India to the final of the ICC World Cup 2017, on Monday became the first woman cricketer from the country to sign a bat endorsement deal with CEAT.
Mithali Raj played a captain's knock to guide India Women to a consolation four-wicket win over England
Images from the ICC Women's World Cup match between India and South Africa in Christchurch on Sunday.
Heavy downpour resulted in the match being called off
The journey has been tough and unconventional, but it has been worthwhile as Kerala tribal Minnu Mani became the only girl from the state to play in the WPL.
India were forced to follow on after being dismissed for 231 in the first innings, in the opening session on Day 3, of the one-off women's Test against England in Bristol, on Friday.
Mithali was left out of the team despite being fit and Kaur had gone on to justify the call even after the humiliating eight-wicket loss on Friday. Both the senior players along with manager Trupti Bhattacharya met BCCI CEO Rahul Johri and GM (Cricket Operations) Saba Karim.
India's women's team head coach W V Raman said his players lacked game time and were short on "mental stamina and "cricketing fitness" after the 1-4 series defeat.
The South African women's team's top-order fired in unison and helped their team clinch the five-match series against India with a comprehensive seven-wicket victory in the fourth ODI, in Lucknow, on Sunday.
India's captain Harmanpreet Kaur says her team has the ability to put pressure on any side in the upcoming ICC Women's T20 World Cup if it stays in the right frame of mind.
India women's cricket team head coach Ramesh Powar on Sunday said that the workload management of senior bowler Jhulan Goswami would be really important in the New Zealand series as the side wants her to be at her peak when the 50-over World Cup starts.
Mandhana, who has 755 points, slipped to the number two spot after she missed India's recently concluded ODI series
The ace spinner is the eighth Indian cricketer to join Australia's women's domestic Twenty20 cricket competition after being roped in by Brisbane Heat for the upcoming season.
India's teen batting sensation Shafali Verma is set to play for Birmingham Phoenix in the inaugural edition of The Hundred and might also turn up for a Sydney franchise in the Women's Big bash League later in the year.
The summit clash turned out to be a low-scoring affair and it was not the best advert for women's cricket with strokeplay proving to be extremely difficult on a slow surface.
Riding on half-centuries from Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur followed by Poonam Yadav's four-wicket haul, India women thrashed Sri Lanka by 107 runs in the first One-Day International of the three-match series.
The Indian Olympic Association presented cash rewards worth Rs 20 lakh, 10 lakh, and 7.5 lakh to the gold, silver and bronze medallists respectively.
Reigning Women's Big Bash League champions Sydney Thunder today confirmed having interest in Harmanpreet Kaur but denied signing the India all-rounder, contrary to media reports.
The T20 Challenge, to be played during the IPL play-offs, will begin with last year's finalist Supernovas taking on Velocity in the opening game.
The Indian women's cricket team will return from their tour of South Africa without losing a series after the fourth Twenty20 International was abandoned due to rain.
The 27-year-old becomes the first Indian player to join an Australian Big Bash League Club after the Board of Control for Cricket in India approved its female players participating in foreign leagues.
India captain Harmanpreet Kaur conceded on Monday that the void left by legends like Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami is not easy to fill, but asserted that her young side has grown substantially to be a top contender for this month's women's T20 World Cup.
England is the third team to figure in the tournament in which all matches will be played at the Cricket Club of India's Brabourne Stadium.
As many as six Malaysia batswomen fell for duck as India bundled them out for just 27 to register a resounding 142-run victory in their opening women's Twenty20 Asia Cup match, in Kuala Lumpur, on Sunday.
The Indian women's cricket team continued its unbeaten run at the ICC World Cup Qualifiers by advancing to the final with a seven-wicket victory over arch-rivals Pakistan, in Colombo, on Sunday.
India posted 153/6 in their 20 overs after winning the toss and England chased the target down in 18.4 overs to clinch the series
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