India played the Women's World Cup for the first time 52 years ago. Only recently has India's dream of becoming the champion been fulfilled. India defeated South Africa by 52 runs in the final in front of a packed crowd at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai. This is one of the biggest successes of Indian cricket.

Laura Wolffbadert scored a stunning century for South Africa. Her performance in the semi-final against England was also decisive. She scored the most runs in the entire tournament, 571. This is the most runs scored by a player in the history of the Women's World Cup. 

However, the biggest prize of the tournament went to India. Batting first, India scored 298 runs for the loss of 7 wickets. In reply, South Africa could only score 246 runs before being all out. Two heroes played a role in India's victory. The first of them was Shafali Burma. Shafali was allowed to play in the final only after Pratik Rawal injured her leg in the group stage. She scored a career-best 87 runs, that too off 78 balls. She also took 2 wickets.

Deepti Sharma came forward at a time when the game was at its most exciting and tense. She initially scored 58 runs and bowled Henrie Derksen with the help of a sharp yorker. Then she took the wicket of Wolfvadert. For that, Harmanpreet Kaur ran from deep midwicket and took a diving catch. With this, India was sure to win the final, which was being played for the third time.

‘First of all, I am grateful to the fans,’ said Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur, ‘Thank you to everyone who came to watch the final. We lost three consecutive games, but we believed that there was something special in this team to turn the game in their favor.’ The coach of the Indian team, Amol Majumdar. His response was, ‘They have made all Indians proud. This is a big opportunity for Indian women's cricket.’

It was another heartbreaking defeat for South Africa. That too after the 2023 and 2025 Twenty20 World Cup finals. This was another moment when the World Cup title that seemed in their hands slipped from their 

grasp. Luck was on India's side for the third time. Because India was defeated in the finals in the 2005 and 2017 World Cups.

The situation turned in India's favor after defeating record seven-time winners Australia in the semi-finals. The home team managed to carry this confident journey to the final. Safali and Deepti completed half-centuries, Richa Ghosh scored 34 runs off 24 balls. Then India managed to set a challenging target of 299 runs.

South Africa's weakest point was 'catches' 

They kept missing. Anneke Bocht missed a catch at deep midwicket when opener Safali was on 56. This World Cup journey was unthinkable for Safali, who was just 21 years old. However, the runs that came out of her own bat were the main reason for India's victory. 

The most incredible aspect of her performance was her bowling, as South Africa looked stunned in front of her.

She had bowled only 14 overs in the World Cup that lasted almost a month. But her 15th and 16th overs were decisive in the final. First, she took the catch of Sun Luce with her own bowling. Then she dismissed Marijne Kap. Harmanpreet said, ‘This was the decisive moment of the final. The way she batted, I feel like today could be her day. ‘This kept coming to my mind. That’s why I wanted to give her an over. Her performance was really full of confidence.’ 

The match itself started two hours late, because the rain had caused trouble in the beginning. In such a situation, South Africa decided to bowl first after winning the toss, believing that batting might be difficult at the beginning.

But South Africa’s thinking was proved wrong when Safali shared a 104-run partnership for the first wicket with Smriti Mandhana, that too in 18 overs. Especially in front of South Africa’s fast bowling, India could not touch the 300-run mark. In reply, South Africa’s batting was not weak either, but Deepti took 5 wickets for 39 runs and ruined South Africa’s plans to celebrate.