India 298 for 7 (Shafali 87, Deepti 58, Mandhana 45, Ghosh 34, Khaka 3-58) beat South Africa 246 (Wolvaardt 101, Dercksen 35, Deepti 5-39, Shafali 2-36) by 52 runs
This had been India’s World Cup all along — as hosts, as the emerging global powerhouse of women’s cricket, and as the team that has challenged the sport’s dominant force more fiercely than any other, defeating it twice in semi-finals. Their time had been long in coming.
On Sunday, India made it their World Cup by winning it. Shafali Verma capped an extraordinary week with an extraordinary display in the final — 87 off 78 balls to set up a total of 298 for 7, and two unexpected wickets with characteristic cheek at crucial junctures in a chase that, more than once, threatened to turn into a nail-biter. Deepti Sharma, a world-class offspinner who has elevated her batting this year, backed up a run-a-ball half-century with a five-wicket haul that combined old-school overspin with new-age control. India won by 52 runs — a margin that belied the tension this final contained.
It was a meeting of two teams haunted by histories of heartbreak, and one had to lose. That fate befell South Africa, cruelly for captain Laura Wolvaardt, the tournament’s highest run-getter, who followed a career-defining semi-final century with another innings of pure class. The game remained in the balance as long as she was at the crease, given South Africa’s depth, until she was seventh out for 101 off 98 balls, miscuing Deepti high into the Navi Mumbai night.
Nadine de Klerk, the match-winner in the league-stage meeting between these sides, kept faint hopes alive with her hitting. But 78 runs needed with only Nos. 10 and 11 for company proved too steep a task.
South Africa won what looked an important toss, but the dew that Navi Mumbai usually brings to night chases never quite materialised — perhaps because the showers that delayed the match by two hours had cooled the air early on. Conditions were, therefore, even for both sides, and India ultimately had the personnel better suited to a pitch where the ball stopped and gripped: batters adept at risk-free manipulation of spin, and spinners capable of attacking. As long as dew didn’t complicate matters for Deepti and Shree Charani, South Africa were always going to struggle to chase 299 on this surface.
India’s innings gained further context during the chase. Their total — the second-highest ever in a Women’s World Cup final — seemed less daunting given the ground’s history and South Africa’s depth. They had been 200 for 3 after 35 overs but managed only 98 in the last 15, and 69 in the final 10.
The key passages, though, came earlier.
When the skies cleared and play began, Shafali and Smriti Mandhana got off to a start as ominous as Australia’s in Thursday’s semi-final — 58 without loss in eight overs. Ayabonga Khaka struggled to control the extravagant swing she found, and Marizanne Kapp found little movement at all. Both bowled inconsistently.
Shafali, stepping out to the seamers whenever possible, drove and flicked her way to five fours in her first 19 balls, while Mandhana — less overtly aggressive — unfurled her signature back-cut and cover drive in a 14-run over off Khaka. South Africa pulled things back through de Klerk’s tighter lines and Nonkululeko Mlaba’s pace variations, as India managed just 13 runs in five overs between the ninth and 13th.
Boundaries returned soon after, with Shafali launching de Klerk for the innings’ first six in the 15th over. But just as India seemed to be pulling away, Mandhana fell, edging a late cut to the keeper to end a 104-run opening stand.
The push-and-pull pattern continued throughout. A tiring, cramping Shafali fell after surpassing her previous ODI best of 71*, holing out in an attempt to go big down the ground. Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur, and Amanjot Kaur all got starts but failed to convert, two of them undone by deliveries that held on the pitch.
India’s lack of a late flourish owed much to South Africa’s discipline, with Khaka compensating for her expensive new-ball spell (3-0-29-0) by conceding just 29 runs in her last seven overs and taking the key wickets of Shafali, Rodrigues, and Richa Ghosh.
Ghosh, entering at 245 for 5 in the 44th over, launched her second ball for an effortless six over the covers. She was the only Indian batter to consistently hit through the line, capitalising on South Africa’s shift from cutters to yorkers — a higher-risk strategy. But her dismissal in the 49th over, flicking to deep backward square leg, evened the contest once again.
De Klerk followed with a final over in which Deepti and Radha Yadav could only rotate the strike, leaving India two short of 300. Deepti had been industrious through the innings — slog-sweeping with authority when possible and rotating strike when not — though she couldn’t quite shift gears into a late onslaught.
Yet, from the very first over of the chase, 298 began to look formidable. India’s seamers avoided the errors their South African counterparts had made, with Renuka Singh exploiting inswing effectively. She narrowly missed a wicket early — a failed lbw review against Tazmin Brits — before nearly inducing a catch at short mid-on.
A flash of brilliance from Amanjot at midwicket finally broke the opening stand, a direct hit catching Brits short on a quick single. Two overs later, Charani trapped Anneke Bosch lbw, ending a miserable tournament for her with a six-ball duck.
By then, Wolvaardt had raced to 35 off 30, countering pressure with leg-side swats and a clean, straight six off Deepti. She found a steady partner in Sune Luus, whose sweeps and deflections began to put India under strain.
But India’s “golden arm” turned the tide. Shafali, with just one ODI wicket in 30 matches before this final, struck with her second ball — a delivery that behaved like a slow legcutter, deceiving Luus into a return catch. She struck again with her next over, this time an offbreak that turned big to have Kapp caught down the leg side.
At that point, with parts of Mumbai under rain, South Africa had been ahead on DLS before Luus’ dismissal; suddenly, at 123 for 4 in the 23rd over, they were well behind.
They slipped further as Sinalo Jafta, batting ahead of more powerful hitters despite a modest record, struggled to rotate strike. By the time she spooned Deepti to midwicket, she had scratched 25 off 44 balls alongside Wolvaardt.
Even at 151 needed from 123 balls, the contest flickered. Annerie Dercksen stunned the crowd with back-to-back sixes off Radha — the first off a high full-toss, no-balled for height — while Wolvaardt punished Shafali’s seventh over with two crisp fours. South Africa now needed 92 from 66 balls.
But Deepti, the tournament’s top wicket-taker, had other plans. In her second over of a new spell, she produced a yorker that Dercksen missed completely. Her next over brought the moment of the match — Wolvaardt’s mishit off a flighted delivery, brilliantly caught by Amanjot after several juggling attempts at deep midwicket.
Three balls later, Deepti struck again — a quicker one that beat Chloe Tryon and struck her pad. The umpire’s call stood on review, and India moved within touching distance of history.
There was still work to do, and nerves to settle, but at last, the World Cup — elusive for so long — was within India’s grasp (ESPNcricinfo)
