OPINION | Amol Muzumdar, the embodiment of Mumbai’s ‘khadoos’ cricketer

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It began with a young Mumbai batsman who walked into his Ranji debut and scored 260 not out. The crowd cheered, journalists took note, and cricket fans whispered to each other, “Here comes the next Tendulkar.” For a while, it really seemed true. Sadly, it wasn’t. Amol Muzumdar went on to pile up more than 11,000 first-class runs, dominating Indian domestic cricket for over two decades but never played a single game for the national team!

That was the era of legends like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Sourav Ganguly who sealed the Indian middle order. There simply wasn’t a vacancy. Muzumdar remained one of India’s finest uncapped players, a name that appeared in record books but not in international scorecards.

An unheralded entry

Fast forward to 2023, when the BCCI appointed him as the head coach of the Indian women’s national cricket team. It was a quiet announcement that did not make big headlines. But it turned out to be one of the most important decisions in the history of Indian cricket. Two years later, on November 2, 2025, under Muzumdar’s guidance, India’s women lifted their maiden ICC Women’s ODI World Cup at Navi Mumbai’s DY Patil Stadium. The victory, over South Africa by 52 runs, was not just historic, it was poetic.

When Deepti Sharma bowled the third ball of the 46th over and Nadine de Klerk holed out to Harmanpreet Kaur at covers, the stadium erupted. The Tricolor waved across the stands, fans screamed, and players ran onto the field in tears. It was not just a cricket match that India had won, it was a story that had come full circle. The man who never played for India had finally made India world champion.

Taking guard again, without looking back

Muzumdar’s cricketing career was a story of unmatched consistency and quiet frustration. He scored more than 30 centuries in first-class cricket, and was the backbone of Mumbai’s Ranji dominance. Yet, as the years went by and his peers earned international recognition, Muzumdar stayed in the shadows. There were no selectors’ calls, no blue jersey, no anthem before the match.

When he retired in 2014, after a 21-year-long career, he could easily have walked away bitter. But Muzumdar was built differently. He turned towards coaching, finding purpose in shaping the next generation. He began with domestic sides, worked with IPL teams, and earned a reputation as a mentor who understood both technique and temperament.

By the time he was appointed coach of the Indian women’s team, Muzumdar had transformed his disappointment into drive. He wanted his players to experience the feeling he had chased all his life, the pride of representing India on the world stage.

Muzumdar’s calm perseverance was the anchor after the nervy start

After having endured many heartbreaks in the previous editions, the Women’s World Cup of 2025 did not begin as a dream for India. After the first two wins, they lost three matches in a row to South Africa, England and Australia. The fans and many experts felt that the team is destined for an early exit. Critics questioned team selection, strategy and form. Social media turned unforgiving.

But in the middle of that chaos, Muzumdar’s calmness became the team’s anchor. In one team meeting, he told the players to be fearless. That became the team’s turning point. The players started playing freely again, unburdened by the fear of failure. They beat New Zealand to make a late surge into the semifinals.

The semifinal brought them face-to-face with the mighty Australians, the same team that had crushed them earlier in the league stage. But this time, India was different. Jemimah Rodrigues rose to the occasion with an unbeaten 127, an innings that was more than a century. It was a statement. It was redemption.

Muzumdar’s message to the team, later revealed, was to play with joy and belief. Jemimah’s every stroke echoed that. India chased down 338, the highest successful chase in Women’s World Cup knockout history and entered the final with a wave of emotion behind them.

Just before the semifinal, India suffered a blow when regular opener Pratika Rawal was ruled out with an injury during training. It could have rattled a fragile campaign, but instead, it opened the door for 21-year-old Shafali Verma.

In the final, she turned that promise into something immortal. A brilliant 87 off 78 balls that gave India the start every champion side dreams of. Then there was another soldier of Muzumdar’s that took charge with both bat and ball. Deepti Sharma, after contributing 58 runs, returned to claim five wickets for just 39 runs. Her final spell broke South Africa’s chase and secured India’s maiden world title.

As the players hugged, cried and waved to the stands, Muzumdar stood quietly near the boundary rope, his eyes glistening. It was his victory too, years of heartbreak and patience had led to this moment.

‘Chak De!’ moment at Mumbai

The comparisons were inevitable. Back in 2007, Shah Rukh Khan’s Chak De! India gave Indian sports one of its most inspiring cinematic stories, the tale of Kabir Khan, a coach who redeems himself by guiding the Indian women’s hockey team to world glory. What many forget is that the film was inspired by a real-life figure, Mir Ranjan Negi, the hockey goalkeeper who suffered public humiliation after the 1982 Asian Games but found redemption years later as the coach of India’s women’s hockey team. He helped them win the Asian Games gold in 1998 and later another gold at the 2002 Commonwealth Games.

Amol Muzumdar, once written off, became India’s real-life Kabir Khan. The man who never wore the India jersey now held the World Cup as coach of Team India. It was the perfect script, one only sport can write. The reel Kabir Khan met his real cricketing counterpart.

His legacy is the confidence that’s seeped into the team

The Women’s Premier League had already changed the financial and professional landscape, but this win has taken it to another level. Muzumdar’s greatest contribution may not be the trophy itself but the confidence he helped create, in the players, in the system and in a nation learning to celebrate its women athletes.

The Muzumdar story reminds us that perhaps destiny doesn’t deny you your dream. It simply gives it back to you in another form. And sometimes, that turns out to be even more beautiful.