In the last 72 hours, international sport has witnessed two stupendous team efforts. First, Harmanpreet Kaur & Co shocked England in the first ever women’s Test at the iconic Lord’s. Then, Spain stunned a star-studded France in the FIFA World Cup semi-finals. Both, Indian cricket and Spanish football, are known for their star power, but in both these instances, it was sheer teamwork that made the difference.

The Indian women’s team did not have just one or two, but eight heroes — opener Smriti Mandhana’s (83 & 70), skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (58), Deepti Sharma (57 & 2-36), Yastika Bhatia (113), Richa Ghosh (50 not out), pacer Kranti Gaud (5-37 & 2-54), pacer Sayali Satghare (2-40 & 2-24) and off-spinner Sneh Rana (2-41 & 4-42). England had the individual brilliance of Sophie Ecclestone (3-68, 5-118, 50) and Amy Jones (52 & 54), but it was no match to India’s collective contributions.