The 2025 ICC Women’s World Cup just concluded, and India is the champion for the first time. This is as big a sporting moment as any for the nation with 1.4 billion people. The Indian Women’s Cricket Team is World Cup champions – to say this line fills oneself with pride and emotion. And I’m pretty sure that every single beating heart of this diverse and eclectic country feels the same way.
India winning the ICC World Cup is no mean feat by any measure. This was a moment 47 years in the making (India didn’t partake in the inaugural 1973 Women’s World Cup). Having come close a couple of times before, India finally managed to win the World Cup and fulfil more than a billion dreams.
India beat South Africa by 52 runs in the final to lift the trophy. However, it was their journey up until that point that was also very interesting. Let’s have a look at India’s World Cup-winning journey so far, and how it all came together in the end from a near-elimination scenario.
India’s World Cup Winning Journey
The ICC Women’s World Cup 2025 began on 30th September with the India vs Sri Lanka tie. India started their campaign on a rather positive note, beating their Indian Ocean neighbours by 59 runs under the Duckworth-Lewis method. It was a rain-affected match in Guwahati, Assam, where India managed to score 269/8 in 47 overs, before bowling Sri Lanka out for 211 in 45.4 overs. It was a comfortable win for India. As the hosts, India were expected to have a good start in the tournament. They did just that, winning their next match against Pakistan too by 88 runs. India had posted a competitive 247 in their 50 overs before bundling out Pakistan for a paltry 159. They were off to a great start.
It wasn’t until their next match against eventual finalists South Africa that India faced some heat in the middle. After Smriti Mandhana and Pratika Rawal started the innings well, India were in a tough spot of bother at 100-5. The girls quickly slipped from 83-2 to 100-5 and 102-6. Scoring 200 was starting to look like a distant dream from there; further emboldened by the 7th wicket at 153. India had one strong pillar in the middle – Richa Ghosh. The girl from Siliguri stood tall and scored a blistering 94 off 77 deliveries, which included 11 fours and 4 sixes. Sneh Rana too supported her ably with a 33 off 24 balls. India ended up posting a fighting score of 251.
The Indian total started to look enough, just as South Africa had slipped to 58-4 and 81-5. At 142-6, India looked like the firm favorites to win. On strike were Chloe Tyron and Nadine de Klerk. While Tyron got out after a well-made 49 off 66 balls, de Klerk hung around. With these two last South African batters, they still had hope, even as the asking run rate had risen to 10. Their hopes came true, as Nadine de Klerk smashed the Indian bowlers like Amanjot Kaur and Kranti Gaud to win the match for the Proteas. This was India’s first loss of the tournament, with a few more to come.
After the close loss against South Africa, India met the juggernauts, Australia. Australia had been bulldozing its way into the semi-finals (which it continued to do after India). But India took the challenge head-on. After top contributions from Smriti Mandhana’s 80(66) and Pratika Rawal’s 75(96), India were off to a flier. They scored 200 in less than 35 overs, and with only 2 wickets down. With further contributions from Jemimah Rodrigues, Amanjot Kaur, Harmanpreet Kaur, and Richa Ghosh, India managed a good total of 330. For the first time in the tournament, it looked like Australia was on the back foot and might lose. Alas, it was not to be.
Australia started equally strongly, if not stronger, led appropriately by their captain, Alyssa Healy. Healy made a massive score of 140 off 107 balls, supported brilliantly by Phoebe Litchfield’s 40 off 39 and Ellyse Perry’s 47 off 52, who was also Not Out till the end and hit the winning six. Ashleigh Gardner scored a brilliant 45 off 46 balls towards the end, and Australia safely saw the target home. They chased 331 in just 49 overs with the loss of 7 wickets.
India was now seriously on the back foot, and their next draw was against England. In the match against England, India were in total control till the very end. Until they lost the plot.
England batted first and scored 288/8 in their 50 overs. Heather Knight scored a brilliant century, 109(91), and Amy Jones scored a fifty, 56(68), that helped them put up a healthy score of 288. However, despite England’s brilliant batting efforts, India looked like they were in total control of the game and were going to chase it comfortably. Smriti Mandhana played yet another brilliant innings, scoring 88 off 94 balls, and Harmanpreet scored a run-a-ball 70.
At the 41-over mark, India were 234/4, having just lost their 4th wicket, still requiring only 51 in the last 54 balls. It should, on any given day, be a walk in the park for any team. Unfortunately, and rather shockingly, India kept losing wickets at regular intervals and ended up falling 4 runs short of the English total. England won the match by 4 runs and pulled a rabbit out of the hat. India was now well and truly on the back foot, barely hanging on to the tournament stages with the hopes of the semi-finals starting to dwindle.
They then beat New Zealand in their next match by 53 runs, once again with the aid of DLS, and secured their position in the semi-finals. India had scored 340/3 in 49 overs, and New Zealand could only manage 271/8 in their reduced quota of 44 overs. India’s last match against Bangladesh was washed out due to rain.
India’s Historic Win at the Semi-Finals Against Australia
India somehow managed to make it to the semi-finals as the 4th team in the table. Their opponents were the table-toppers, Australia, who were unbeaten in the tournament. Not only were they unbeaten, but Australia had, until then, demolished all their opponents in the group stage. The only team that came close to beating Australia in the group stage was India. This time, India managed to cross the impossible hurdle.
Beating Australia is a monumental feat in itself, let alone beating them in a World Cup semi-final. Australia had lost only 6 ODIs in the last 8 years. Their last loss in an ODI World Cup was against India in 2017, at the semi-finals again, when Harmanpreet scored a mammoth 171 off 115 balls. Since then, Australia has won 15 games in a row in ODI World Cups. Once again, they looked like they were on track to push the unbeaten tally to 16.
After Alyssa Healy’s early dismissal, her opening partner, Phoebe Litchfield, played an innings of a lifetime. Litchfield brought up her hundred in 77 deliveries and was eventually dismissed for 119(93). Ellyse Perry once again struck gold against India, scoring 77 off 88 balls and taking the Australian total to more than a respectable score. Ashleigh Gardner’s 63 off 45 helped immensely in that regard. Australia ended up with 338 all out in 49.5 overs – a more than competitive score, one might say, in a World Cup semi-final. Indian bowlers did put the squeeze in the middle, or else the score could’ve been way more.
India, already having to chase a mammoth score, lost the wickets of Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana, leaving India reeling at 59/2. From there on, Jemimah Rodrigues and Harmanpreet Kaur stitched a monumental partnership of 167 runs in 156 balls. Looking back, that was the game-defining moment for India. Jemimah Rodrigues scored an all-time great century with 127 off 134 balls, peppered with 14 boundaries. She had not hit a single six in her innings. Harmanpreet Kaur scored 89 off 88 balls, which was decorated with 10 boundaries and 2 sixes. Once Harmanpreet got out, caught brilliantly by Ashleigh Gardner, bowled by Annabel Sutherland, India were already in control of the game. However, given Indian’s previous tendencies to collapse towards the end, there was still no assurance as to who would win.
Jemimah Rodrigues stayed till the end, ensuring India secured the final berth. In the meantime, Deepti Sharma came and played a handy knock of 24 off 17 balls. It was Richa Ghosh’s 26 off 16 with 2 mammoth sixes, and Amanjot Kaur’s 15 off 8 deliveries, that sealed the deal for India. This was a historic win for India, given the context of the game, the match situation, the big occasion of a World Cup, and the opposition in Australia.
India was all set to play South Africa in the finals now.
India vs South Africa – The Final of the World Cup
Suddenly, after the win against Australia, India went into the finals as firm favorites to lift the trophy. This was despite South Africa’s mammoth win against England in the first semi-final, where their captain, Laura Wolvaardt, scored 169 off 143 balls.
India began their final match against South Africa by losing the toss and batting first. South African captain Wolvaardt won the toss and chose to field, presumably thinking that since the dew would come into play as a major factor, batting might be easy at the end. She wasn’t wrong to presume that, since dew was an immense factor in aiding India chase that mammoth total against Australia. Without taking anything away from India’s credit, the dew did make it difficult for the Australian bowlers to grip the ball. It almost does the same. So, Laura Wolvaardt was right to take that call. Unfortunately for her, the dew just didn’t come in the final.
India batted first and were cruising towards a huge total, courtesy Shafali Verma’s blistering knock. She batted at a strike rate of 112 and eventually scored 87 off 78 balls. Smriti Mandhana too started well, but then went into a shell before being dismissed for 45 off 58 balls. It was a soft dismissal, caught by the wicket keeper, to get rid of her. Jemimah Rodrigues and Harmanpreet Kaur stabilized the score with 24 off 37 and 20 off 29, but the scoring rate dropped significantly. It was Deepti Sharma’s run-a-ball innings of 58 that kept India’s scoreboard ticking. Eventually, Richa Ghosh, as she so often does, played a blinder of an innings with 34 off 24 balls with 3 fours and 2 sixes. Combining all of their contributions, India put up a decent total of 298/7 in their 50 overs.
To the naked eye at first, it looked like India was probably 20-25 runs short. But they did make it all up by some brilliant bowling and fielding.
South Africa’s start looked solid and determined. Their openers, Laura Wolvaardt and Tazmin Brits, were going great when a run out by Amanjot Kaur gave India the breakthrough. It was a brilliant bit of fielding by Kaur, and India got just the right start. South Africa were 51/1 in 9.3 overs, with the asking rate just about right. Soon after, Anneke Bosch was dismissed LBW by a brilliant delivery from Shree Charani, with the one that spun from middle and leg to middle. It was a clean LBW dismissal. South Africa, slightly behind now, kept the scoreboard pushing as Sune Luus scored 25 off 31. Laura Wolvaardt, on the other hand, was scoring brilliantly. In the form of her life, the Proteas captain showed no signs of weakness whatsoever.
Just as South Africa was finding their rhythm back in the game, Harmanpreet Kaur brought out a brilliant move from her book of captaincy. In an inspired change, she threw the ball to Shafali Verma, and it worked. A part-time bowler, Verma also bowls with the energy of a part-time bowler. With a casual run-up and action, Verma releases the ball rather slowly. One such ball was pitched up, and just as Luus wanted to guide it to mid-wicket for a single, she ended up chipping it back to Shafali herself. It turned out to be the simplest caught & bowled by Verma, to break a very important partnership. She didn’t just take the important wicket of Luus, but also put the brakes on the scoring rate. Verma went for only 6 runs off her first 2 overs, and suddenly South African batters were playing her very cautiously.
But Shafali Verma wasn’t done with her heroics. A couple of overs later, she picked up the important wicket of Marizanne Kapp, and now South Africa were well and truly on the back foot. This was an extraordinary move by Harmanpreet Kaur to bring Shafali Verma out of nowhere, and that broke the South African middle-order. Now, with Sinalo Jafta on strike, who was clearly struggling to score from the very beginning, India found a chokehold on South Africa. The only danger was that Laura Wolvaardt was still there. She had just slowed down her scoring rate, but with her hitting ability and top form, she could’ve won South Africa the game and the World Cup from any position. When Jafta too got out, caught by Radha Yadav and bowled by Deepti Sharma, the pressure was really starting to rise for South Africa.
Annerie Derckson was the new player in for South Africa at No. 7. She put the pressure back on the Indian bowlers, especially Radha Yadav, who went for 13 off 1 delivery (with a no-ball), and the required run rate was down again. At 209-5, with Laura Wolvaardt and Annerie Derckson on crease, and with two big hitters like Chloe Tyron and Nadine de Klerk still to come, South Africa still looked like they would chase the target.
Then came Deepti Sharma’s over that changed everything. As an off-spinner, she bowled a looping delivery that was a yorker for Derckson. She was clean bowled by Deepti, and India found their sixth scalp. Wolvaardt was under tremendous pressure after that to score big and get the runs flowing. The asking rate was rising, and something had to give. Wolvaardt went for a big hoick over mid-wicket and long-on in the same over off Deepti. One could tell from the shot itself, she hadn’t timed it well enough.
Wolvaardt was holed out near the boundary by Amanjot Kaur, who juggled a couple of times before taking it in one hand. For those brief milliseconds, every single Indian had their heart in their mouth. Wolvaardt had scored a magnificent hundred once again. She became the second female batter to score a hundred in a World Cup semi-final and a final after Alyssa Healy in 2022. As she walked towards the pavilion, scoring 101 off 98 balls, the whole of Navi Mumbai crowd applauded her efforts. It was a monumental effort from a team captain.
Now, with South Africa 220/7, India could almost sense the victory. They could almost feel the trophy in their hands. No sooner after Wolvaardt, Chloe Tyron was dismissed LBW by Deepti, and Ayabonga Khaka was run out by Deepti Sharma and Richa Ghosh. India were just one wicket away from creating history.
As India could almost taste imminent victory, this was the time when certain mishaps happened on the field. Jemimah Rodrigues, arguably India’s best fielder, dropped an easy catch of Nadine de Klerk, and Shree Charani bowled 5 wides. Although the target was still far away, and South Africa had very few deliveries and only one wicket left to do it, the Indians were still feeling the pressure with such misfields.
Eventually, when Deepti Sharma came back for her 10th and last over, a full toss from her prompted de Klerk to go for the big hit. She mistimed it, and the ball went straight into Harmanpreet Kaur’s hands. As soon as Harmanpreet Kaur took the catch, she went off running around the field, and so did every single Indian cricketer. The coach, Amol Muzumdar, who had remained a quiet presence till then, was overwhelmed with ecstasy and jubilation. The loud cacophony inside the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai was unbearable. India had just won the World Cup at home, in front of nearly 40,000 people. This was a dream of billions, some unfinished dreams, and some who didn’t even anticipate it. Former Indian cricketers Jhulan Goswami and Mithali Raj were there at the stadium, celebrating the win, and it was both a happy and an emotional moment for everyone.
India came close once in 2005, when they lost the finals against Australia in Centurion by 98 runs. That was a tough loss, and India didn’t reach the finals ever again until 2017. That time, it was India’s to win. However, a late monumental collapse and Anya Shrubsole’s once-in-a-lifetime bowling performance saw India lose the game from a completely winnable position. India had one hand on the trophy, and they still missed the chance to grab it and lift it. That was a dream-missed scenario for Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami. But this time, on the back of the young Indian girls, they could see their dreams fulfilled. It was a dream fulfilled for 1.4 billion people.
India wins the World Cup, and this could be a Watershed moment in Indian Women’s cricket like never before. From here, it is only onwards and upwards.
