With the help of brilliant bowling from Shefali Verma and Deepti Sharma, India won their first Women’s World Cup title by defeating South Africa by 52 runs in the final in Navi Mumbai on Sunday.
Shafali scored the highest One Day International (ODI) score of her career as her 87 runs helped the home team post 298–7 after being asked to bat first in front of a crowd of 45,000.
After being left out of the World Cup squad, Shafali was included in the semi-final win over Australia following an injury to Pratik Raval and the opening batsman scored a half-century off 49 balls to send herself into the final.
Laura Wolvaardt led South Africa’s reply with a captain’s knock of 101, but the Proteas were all out for 246 in 45.3 overs.
Sharma produced a brilliant all-round performance in a memorable night for the hosts, claiming 5-39 along with his impressive 58-run innings.
“Every World Cup we have gone to, we all have suffered a lot,” India’s opening batsman Smriti Mandhana said with tears in her eyes.
“We always believed that we had a big responsibility – not just to win, but also to take women’s cricket forward.
“Look at the support we’ve received in the last month and a half. It’s incredible.”
With this win, India joined Australia, England and New Zealand as the only countries to win this showpiece tournament.
Edited by: Carl Sexton