Indian women registered a record of 298-7 in Navi Mumbai, defeating South Africa for 246 and qualifying for the 2025 Cricket World Cup.
The Indian women’s team won the Cricket World Cup for the first time, defeating South Africa by 52 runs in Navi Mumbai, India.
Harmanpreet Kaur’s side, who have reached the final for the third time, dominated from the start at the DY Patil Stadium on Sunday, but South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt did her best to spoil the hosts in the chase.
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In response to India’s 298-7, Wolvaardt led from the beginning and was caught in the deep by Deepti Sharma’s bowling, scoring 101 out of a total of 98, although they ended up with 5-39.
Unlike India’s team effort with the bat, there was no support for Wolvaardt as South Africa often lost wickets at the other end until they were bowled out for 246 in the 46th over.
Wolvaardt’s heroic effort added to the century she scored in Thursday’s semi-final victory over England. She is only the second player to achieve the feat of consecutive centuries at this stage of the competition, following Alyssa Healy, who won for Australia in 2022.
Neither team has lifted the trophy. In fact, this was South Africa’s first ever final.
India has reached the final twice before, in 2005 and 2017, but lost to Australia and England respectively.
This was also the first Women’s World Cup final not to involve either Australia or England, with the former becoming the record winners with seven wins.
India, who took part after a long delay due to rain, achieved the second-highest result in a Women’s World Cup final. However, they reached 151-1 at the mid-way stage of the innings and will feel they could have easily cleared 300.
Opener Smriti Mandhana’s 45 runs helped the Indian batsman finish with 434 runs in the tournament.
This puts her at the top of India’s list of top scorers in the World Cup, ahead of Mithali Raj who scored 409 runs in the 2017 tournament.
However, it was the opening partner of Shafali Verma who stole the limelight on the day as she hit 87 off 78.
Deepti Sharma’s run-a-ball 58 maintained the momentum till the middle overs, while Richa Ghosh hit two sixes in the second half of the innings from 24 to 34, marking the highest strike rate of the innings.
South Africa started the chase firmly, with the opening pair delivering a partnership of 50 in 10 overs. However, with the loss of Tazmin Blitz, they started to wobble as they lost 23 runs due to great fielding from Amanjot Kaur.
Anneke Bosch was trapped LBW by Sree Charani after pushing back a pathetic six-ball duck.
Verma then came into the party with the ball and won Sune Ruth and Marisanne Cup, leaving South Africa with 123-4 in 23 overs.
When Sinalo Hafta lost 148-5 in the 30th innings, there was no way back in sight for a team that had hoped to become the first senior team from their home country to win a major International Cricket Council (ICC) title.
By the end of Wolvaardt’s innings, the Indian women, who also hosted the 2023 tournament, knew they could outscore the men, who were eliminated by Australia in the final, by a run.
