Former Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin showered praise on Sree Charani after India won the World Cup final against South Africa by 52 runs at Navi Mumbai on Sunday. Ashwin said the left-arm orthodox spinner played a key role in India’s World Cup triumph.

Charani scalped 14 wickets in nine matches at an average of 27.64 in the tournament. The left-arm spinner returned with figures of 1-48 in nine overs she bowled in the summit clash against South Africa.

Charani was brilliant throughout the middle overs and delivered the goods for the team.

“Her ball rotation is at the correct speed. If it matches Sophie Ecclestone, Jess Jonassen or Sophie Molineux, her weight transfer. She goes into a lovely side-on position. From there, her hand comes to the front. There is no collapse anywhere. There is no energy leakage.”.

“She crushed the World Cup. She is the biggest reason for India to win this World Cup. She is going to be a superstar bowler in the future,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel on Monday.

Ashwin highlighted that captain Harmanpreet Kaur had seen a lot of disappointments in the past, including the 2017 World Cup final loss against England.

“The thing is coming from a place like this, Harmanpreet Kaur would have seen a lot of disappointments. The 2017 World Cup final, for instance, where they beat Australia and lost to England in the final. Jhulan Goswami was there. Harmanpreet Kaur has seen such things. She has faced defeats. She has seen defeats from situations where the World Cup could have been won. From outside, you may not be witness to the effort she has put in”.

The former spinner said India were able to reap rewards for the seeds they had sown earlier.

“The seed she has sown, after 10 or 20 years, how Kapil Dev sowed it, how Dhoni sowed it in 2011 or 2007, like how we talk about those, we will talk about this as well,” the 106-Test veteran said.

Harmanpreet Kaur said her team wants to make a winning habit in major events after ending their World Cup hoodoo.