ICC Women's World Cup 2025: India on top of the world as they clinch their maiden title

Harmanpreet Kaur joined the illustrious list of Indian cricket captains to have led the nation to World Cup glory.

Women in Blue celebrate their triumph.

Credit: Reuters Photo

Navi Mumbai: The Indian women created history on Sunday. Harmanpreet Kaur and her team were crowned the new world champions, making their home World Cup a memorable one.

In winning the title in their third entry to the final, India overcame the pressure of expectations from the entire nation. A tournament that saw them go through a roller coaster ride, India peaked at the right time in the back end of the tournament to win crucial matches and emerge triumphant in style.

Harmanpreet joined the illustrious list of Indian cricket captains to have led the nation to World Cup glory. In becoming the first Indian woman to lift the global trophy, she joined Kapil Dev, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Rohit Sharma as the leaders who led in exemplary manner and scripted golden chapters in Indian cricket history.

The Indian team avenged the defeat suffered at the hands of South Africa in the league phase by drowning them by 52 runs. Thus, no team has beaten the same opposition twice in this tournament.

While Proteas did well to restrict India to 298 for seven after winning the toss, their batters did not provide enough support to their captain Laura Wolvaardt, who played a lone fiddle while posting her second successive hundred.

Wolvaardt and Tazmin Brits gave a sound start with a 51-run stand in the Power Play. But, the brilliant introduction of part-timer off-break bowler Shafali Verma in the 21^st over put India on the victory path. In each of her first two overs, Verma dismissed dangerous batters Sune Luus and Marizanne Kapp, the former caught and bowled while the latter was held down the leg side.

The Proteas skipper kept her calm throughout, and Annerie Dercksen, who was the dominant partner, still kept them in the race as they shared a run-a-ball 61 for the sixth wicket before Dercksen was yorked by Deepti.

And, when Deepti struck twice in the 42^nd over, removing Wolvaardt and trapping Chloe Tryon leg before, it was a matter of when India were going to lay their hands on the coveted trophy. Fittingly, it was the Deepti-Harmanpreet combine that clinched the match for India, the bowler picking up her fifth wicket of the final to complete a truly all-round performance.

Playing on the same surface on which India posted 340 for three against New Zealand ten days ago, the hosts began emphatically through a 104-run partnership between Smriti Mandhana and Verma.

However, both the openers missed their individual milestones, Mandhana falling for 45 and Verma, 13 short of her maiden WODI hundred. Verma played most of her strokes in the power play, hitting five fours inside eight overs but was kept quiet by the disciplined South African bowling. The Proteas’ ground fielding was top-notch but their catching was dismal, Anneke Bosch dropping two offerings in the deep and Wolvaardt, one.

In the 14 overs between eighth and 22^nd, Verma could not find a single boundary barring a six straight down the ground off medium-pacer Nadine de Klerk. In this period, India lost their highest scorer of the tournament (434 runs), Mandhana for 45.

Deepti took it upon herself to bat till the end as she has been doing in this tournament. In the company of the six-hitting Richa Ghosh, India posted a competitive total that was more than enough in the end. Deepti smartly batted to score her third half-century of the tournament, sharing 47 in 35 balls for the sixth wicket with Richa.

SCOREBOARD

INDIA

S Mandhana c Jafta b Tryon 45

S Verma c Luus b Khakha 87

J Rodrigues c Wolvaardt b Khakha 24

H Kaur b Mlaba 20

D Sharma (run out) 58

A Kaur c&b de Klerk 12

R Ghosh c Dercksen b Khakha 34

R Yadav (not out) 3

Extras (lb-2, w-12, nb-1) 15

TOTAL (for 7 wkts, 50 overs) 298

Fall of wickets: 1-104, 2-166, 3-171, 4-223, 5-245, 6-292, 7-298.

Bowling: Kapp 10-1-59-0, Khakha 9-0-58-3, Mlaba 10-0-47-1, De Klerk 9-0-52-1, Luus 5-0-34-0, Tryon 7-0-46-1.

SOUTH AFRICA

L Wolvaardt c A Kaur b Sharma 101

T Brits (run out) 23

A Bosch lbw b Charani 0

S Luus c & b Verma 25

M Kapp c Ghosh b Verma 4

S Jafta c Yadav b Sharma 16

A Dercksen b Sharma 35

C Tryon lbw b Sharma 9

N de Klerk c Kaur b Sharma 18

A Khakha (run out) 1

N Mlaba (not out) 0

Extras (W-12, NB-2) 14

TOTAL (all out, 45.3 overs) 246

Fall of wickets: 1-51, 2-62, 3-114, 4-123, 5-148, 6-209, 7-220, 8-221, 9-246.

Bowling: Thakur 8-0-28-0, Gaud 3-0-16-0, A Kaur 4-0-34-0, Sharma 9.3-0-39-5, Charani 9-0-48-1, Yadav 5-0-45-0, Verma 7-0-36-2.

Result: India won by 52 runs.