But Arothe, a former first-class player who played a key role in Baroda's Ranji Trophy triumph in 2001, says he has already got back to work and will not allow the girls to rest on their laurels.
In an exclusive interview with Khaleej Times, Arothe reveals what needs to be done for India to consistently challenge the top guns in women's cricket.
Q. Your team made the whole country proud with their World Cup runners-up finish. Now what should be done to continue with the same level of play?
I have asked the girls to remain fit. That's very important. The fitness level and the fielding standards need to go up because to compete at international level against teams like Australia, England, New Zealand and South Africa, we need to be fitter. We have started working on it. We already had one training camp with the Indian junior team. Our next camp will start on November 8. At the same time BCCI has also planned to start an India A side. So we are taking one step a time.
Q. Going into the World Cup, did you expect the team to perform as well as they did?
We played in South Africa before the World Cup in a triseries where the girls did extremely well. That tournament gave us a lot of confidence. So when we went to the World Cup, our first aim was to qualify for the semifinals. When we came to the semifinals, I told the girls that we had to play our best game against Australia. And they came up with a brilliant all-round performance in the last-four game and reached the final. When we left India for the World Cup, nobody thought we could go that far in the tournament. But I always had confidence in the girls.
Q. You were so close to victory in the final, but that batting collapse was so heartbreaking. Does that still hurt you?
Yes, it still hurts. We were 191/3 in 42nd over chasing 229, but we went on to lose so many wickets. You know our girls had never played under so much pressure because the whole country was watching us. But it's not an excuse, I know it was a World Cup final. I would not have been so heartbroken if we had got all out for 150 chasing 229. But to lose from a winning position was really painful.
Q. We spoke to legendary Railways cricket coach Vinod Sharma few months back and he said BCCI must start paying more money to players to attract more girls to cricket. Do you agree?
Yes, BCCI has already made some very good plans about the salary of the players. It's going to happen soon. BCCI is also promoting the India A side. They have also started organising more domestic tournaments. They have started under-16 and under 23-tournaments. You won't get results overnight, but things are moving in the right direction. I am sure in the coming years we are going to produce more players like Jhulan Goswami and Mithali Raj.
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