Tears and hugs ahead of Jhulan Goswami's final international match

There were tears and hugs in the team huddle ahead of the third and final women's ODI match on Saturday between India and England. The reason: legendary Indian pacer Jhulan Goswami - or Jhunni di as many in the team affectionately call her - is playing her final international match.

Captain Harmanpreet Kaur was seen in tears, while Jhulan looked all smiles in an online video and in the pictures tweeted by BCCI ahead of the match.


Jhulan Goswami,39, is playing her 204th, and last, one-day international and has so far 253 wickets against her name, which is the record for the most by a bowler in women's ODIs. She has also played 68 T20Is for 56 wickets and 12 Tests for 44 wickets.

She has also shown quite a lot of capability with her bat, scoring 1,924 runs in international cricket with three fifties.

India have a winning 2-0 lead in the series, but they would still be looking to win the third one at Lord's as befitting farewell to Jhulan. This is first ODI series win against England since 1999.

A day before the match Jhulan said not winning an ODI World Cup will be her "only regret" in an otherwise distinguished two-decade career.

The Indian team had ended second-best during the 2005 and 2017 editions of 50-over World Cup.

"I have played two World Cup finals, if we had won at least one, then it would have been very nice for me and the team. Every individual works for that goal. We played 2-3 finals, but we were not able to win, that remains my only regret," she said.

The ace Indian pacer had been contemplating retirement for sone time, especially after injures following the 2017 World Cup.

Goswami said she would miss singing the national anthem and the Indian jersey.