From World Cup qualifiers to Harmanpreet's magical knock: India's journey to Lord's final

Not many gave a chance to Mithali Raj and girls when they stepped out on the field in Derby after a rain delay to play the semi-final of ICC Women's World Cup 2017 against holders and six-time champions Australia.

However, at the end of a rain-curtailed match, it was the Women in Blue who were all smiles. Meg Lanning's side were stunned, but they knew what had hit them -- Harmanpreet Kaur.

The 27-year-old hit 20 boundaries and seven sixes during her whirlwind knock of 171 from just 115 balls. Coming in at a difficult situation, with the team reeling at 35/2 in 10 overs in a 42-over-a-side match, Harmanpreet led India to the final single-handedly.

India will now take on England, whom they defeated in the tournament opener, in front of a sell-out crowd at the Mecca of Cricket -- the Lord's in London. What more, as cricket fans, could we ask for?

India's performances over the last few weeks in England have been well received by the masses back home and will surely inspire young girls to pick up cricket bats, thanks to International Cricket Council's initiative to broadcast the matches on television and online.

Girls did not enjoy favourites tag

However, it was not all easy for the women's cricket team. Unlike the Men in Blue, Raj and Co. were not the favourites. In fact, they had to feature in the Women's World Cup qualification tournament earlier this year in Sri Lanka along with the associate nations.

Over the course of eight matches in the qualifying tournament, India were flawless and went on to win the tournament. The icing on the cake was a hard-earned one-wicket win over South Africa in the final on February 21 in Colombo.

However, there was no time for celebrations or even for being relieved as there was a change in support staff two months ahead of the World Cup campaign. Purnima Rau, who had overseen India's win in the qualifying tournament, was replaced by Tushar Arothe, who had already been at the helm of the women's team from 2008 to 2012.

Arothe's appointment though worked in favour of the team as India went on to win a quadrangular series in South Africa in May, beating the African giants in the final.

Raj's one-woman show

However, doubts still remained over India's world-beating ability ahead of the quadrennial world event. It seemed like the two of the country's most celebrated cricketers, Raj and Jhulan Goswami who are featuring in their final World Cup campaigns, would end their careers without tasting the ultimate success.

Raj and girls though quashed them by stunning the hosts by 35 runs in Derby to open the World Cup campaign on a high. Spinners started to fire and three more wins followed, but after crushing defeats to South Africa and Australia in the group stages, India's chances looked bleak.

Raj felt she was in a similar situation once again. The 34-year-old had achieved a historic personal milestone -- first woman cricketer to reach 6,000 ODI runs -- but she was not able to celebrate it. The senior campaigner felt that she was being let down by her teammates, yet again.

Through all these years, Raj had been the face of women's cricket in the country. She conceded that she has had pressure throughout her career and it has even stopped her from getting even better.

Raj's dream is her teammates' dream as well

However, against New Zealand in the must-win game, there were 11 girls wearing the blue jersey, and for once it seemed all of them were ready for the big battle.

Raj was at it once again. She smashed yet another ton, but she was not the only one to contribute. Harmanpreet stepped up with a crucial 60, but it was Veda Krishnamurthy's 45-ball 70 towards the end of the innings that boxed New Zealand out of the game and helped India seal a semi-final berth.

And when the going got tough against the world champions on Thursday, Harmanpreet did it for the team. Raj, after having played five World Cup tournaments without any success, said on Thursday that India has finally found a squad that can challenge the powerhouses.

"This unit looks compact now. Winning a semi-final against Australia is a huge achievement. We have players now who are of international standard. They are standing up every game," Raj said.

It seems, there is more relief in Raj's words than joy.