India make history with Women’s World Cup victory

Harmanpreet Kaur’s team has become the first from India to lift the ICC Women’s World Cup, following a 52-run victory over South Africa in a rain-delayed final at Navi Mumbai’s DY Patil Stadium. 

The winning moment came when skipper Harmanpreet held onto a catch from South Africa’s No 9, Nadine de Klerk, to give the star allrounder Deepti Sharma her fifth wicket of the final, to go with a vital half-century earlier in the evening. 

Shafali Verma, dropped from ODIs in 2024 but back for the knockouts as an injury replacement, etcher her name in cricketing history with a Player-of-the-Final performance: a career-best 87 off 78 deliveries and two wickets as South Africa’s record chase began to unwind. 

Deepti contributed 58 off 58 balls late in the innings once India’s hopes of crossing 300 dissipated following a century opening stand between Shafali and Smriti Mandhana (45), which proved instrumental in an overall total of 298/7 after Harmanpreet lost her eighth toss of the tournament. Deepti, who faced heartbreak in the 2020 T20 World Cup final loss to Australia, then spun a web around South Africa with 5/39. 

“I am so grateful for this crowd, they have been so amazing. Thank you so much. The belief was there after we lost three back-to-back games but we know this team is special,” said an emotional Harmanpreet after the final. “Credit goes to each and every member of this team that we stayed positive. They deserve it.”

Chasing the highest total to win a World Cup, South Africa fell to 148/5 as Shafali grabbed two wickets in an inspired move from Harmanpreet to give her the ball, before Wolvaart made 101, her second successive century, to steer her team towards their target. 

Deepti’s removal of Annerie Dercksen for 35 spanned a partnership for the sixth wicket worth 61, and then came the game-changing over, as Wolvaart and Chloe Tryon departed in succession. Deepti’s sensational night was capped with the run out of Ayabonga Khaka and the wicket of de Klerk, as South Africa were bowled out for 246 in the 46th over. 

Unseasonal rain in Navi Mumbai pushed back the start of the final by two hours, after which Wolvaart won the toss and put India in. Verma and Mandhana put on 104, and at 166/1 at the halfway mark of their innings, India looked set for a big total. But wickets then started to fall as Khaka and Nonkululeko Mlaba started to turn things around. 

Shafali’s dismissal to Khaka started the slide, with Jemimah falling to the same bowler and Harmanpreet to Mlaba before de Klerk took a return catch off Amanjot Kaur. This is where Deepti had to change her approach and steady the innings, and she found an ally in Richa Ghosh (34) with whom she put on 47 for the sixth wicket.