India lost the final to Australia in 2005. And in 2017, England shattered India’s dreams. But this time, they made no mistake, for the first time, the Indian women’s cricket team won the title of world champion in ODIs.
This is the first time in history that the final match was held without England and Australia. In every edition of the Women’s ODI World Cup, either Australia or England would be in the final match. But this time, neither of these two teams was in the final. So, it was already known that the cricket world was going to have a new champion team.
On Sunday (November 2), South Africa won the toss at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai and decided to field first. Batting first, India got off to a flying start. The opening pair of Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma scored 104 runs. India scored 298 runs for the loss of 7 wickets in the stipulated 50 overs, relying on fifties from Shafali and Deepti Sharma and 45 runs from Smriti.
South Africa’s two openers Laura Volvert and Tazmin Brits started playing a bit slowly in reply. The opening partnership of the two came to 51 runs off 57 balls. Brits was run out after 23 runs off 35 balls. Anika Bosch, who came in to bat at number three, could not last long. She departed without scoring any runs on 6 balls and was caught LBW by Sri Charani.
Volvert put on a 52-run partnership with Sune Loos for the third wicket. She was caught by Shafali’s ball before returning with 25 runs from her bat on 31 balls. Marizhan Kap also could not last long. She departed after 4 runs from 5 balls.
Sinaloa Jafta returned with 16 runs off 29 balls. Then Volvert put on a 61-run partnership with Aneri Derksen. Derksen, who had made 35 runs from 37 balls, was bowled by Deepti with the team at 209 runs.
Leading one end, captain Laura Volvert was fighting alone. At one point, she scored a century. But after that, she could not last long. After playing a brilliant innings of 101 runs off 98 balls, she played a big shot off the ball of Byada Deepti.
After that, none of the rest could take much advantage. South Africa managed to score 246 runs in 45 overs and three balls, losing all their wickets against India’s 298 runs.
Earlier, the toss of the final was delayed due to rain. The game also started late. India, who came out to bat after losing the toss, got a great start at home with the opening pair of Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma. India scored 104 runs on the scoreboard before losing their first wicket in 17.4 overs. Trion broke the pair by returning Smriti, who had scored 45 runs with 8 fours off 58 balls.
After Smriti’s departure, Jemimah Rodrigues, the hero of India’s victory in the semi-finals, came to the crease. She shared a 62-run partnership with Shafali. Shafali, who was on her way to a century, departed on a team-high 166 runs. She was caught by Khakar’s bowling off 87 runs off 78 balls with 7 fours and 2 sixes. This was Shafali’s highest innings.
Rodriguez, who played an unbeaten 127 runs in the previous match, could not play a big innings today. Despite being set, she was out after playing an innings of 24 runs off 37 balls. She was caught by Khakar’s bowling.
Captain Harmanpreet could not play a big innings either. She was bowled by Mlaba for 20 runs off 29 balls. Amanjeet made 14 off 12 balls before being caught by de Klerk’s bowling.
Deepti, who came out at five, was confident. Richa Ghosh, who came out at seven, created a storm as soon as she came down. Deepti-Richer’s great partnership gave India hope of more than 300 runs. But Richa was out on the last ball of the 49th over. The team’s score was then 292.
Richa scored 34 runs off 24 balls with 3 fours and 2 sixes. Deepti, who had scored a half-century, was run out on the very last ball of the innings. She scored 58 runs off 58 balls with 3 fours and 1 six. Radha Yadav remained unbeaten on 3 runs. For the Proteas, Khaka took 3 wickets, Mlaba, de Klerk and Trion took 1 wicket each.
