The 2025 champions reached the semi-finals after finishing in 4th place in the league stage after winning three matches, and in the semi-finals they defeated reigning champions Australia to cement their place in the final.

Their fellow finalists, South Africa, reached the final after defeating England in the semi-finals following their 3rd-place finish in the league stages, in which they won 5 matches.

The Match

India’s opening batters Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma combined for over 100 runs before Smriti’s wicket fell for 45 runs with just over 17 overs bowled.

Shafali, who was later named the player of the match, scored India’s highest run total with 87 runs off 78 balls before her wicket fell at 166-1 with over half of the overs bowled for a run rate of 6.00.

Player of the tournament Deepti Sharma also reached a half-century as she was run out at 58 runs off 58 balls to help India to a convincing score of 298/7 with 50 overs bowled for a final run rate of 5.96.

Ayabonga Khaka took the most wickets for South Africa as she finished on 3/58 for an economy of 6.44, whilst Nonkululeko Mlaba finished with an economy of 4.70 after a score of 1/47 in 10 overs.

In their innings, South Africa’s captain Laura Wolvaardt produced another spectacular batting display as she hit her second century in two matches with 101 runs off 98 balls.

Despite Wolvaardt’s century, some brilliant bowling from India kept South Africa from completing their chase, as their second-highest run scorer was Annerie Dercksen, who was bowled out for 35 runs off 37 balls.

South Africa finished all out for 246, with Deepti finishing the match on 5/39 for an economy of 4.10 as she helped India to their first ever ICC Women’s World Cup title.

Result: India beat South Africa by 52 runs.

India’s first ever ICC Women’s World Cup title comes after finishing as runners-up in the 2005 and 2017 editions of the tournament.

2025 runners-up South Africa also created history as they reached the final for the first time in their country’s history.