Last Sunday, at Mumbai’s DY Patil Stadium, India toppled South Africa to become Women’s ODI World Cup champions for the very first time.
After losing the toss and being put in to bat in rainy conditions, the co-hosts were boosted by a strong opening partnership between Shafali Verma (87 off 78 balls) and Smriti Mandhana (45 from 58). The pair set the tone of what was to be a formidable display of talent and winning determination. The opening pair complemented each other’s styles fantastically, with Mandhana cutting and pulling square of the wicket, whilst Verma looked to take the bowlers downtown. Their 104-run stand, however, was broken when Mandhana was caught behind off the bowling of Chloe Tryon.
A crucial moment in the match came when Verma was dropped on 56 by Anneke Bosch. Saffer quick Ayabonga Khaka was able to remove her soon, however, beginning a phase where India stuttered from 166-1 to 245-5.
A run-a-ball 58 from Deepti Sharma and handy cameo from Richa Ghosh (34) saw India reach 298/7 – the second highest total in a World Cup final. Such is the class of this Indian side, they would’ve been disappointed that they may have left runs out there.
South Africa made them sweat too. Their opening duo of Tazmin Brits and Laura Wolvaardt enjoyed an unbeaten 50 run partnership, before chaos struck. An outstanding piece of fielding by Harmanpreet Kaur saw Britz run out on 23.
Verma proved a starlet with both bat and ball, claiming the scalps of Suné Luus (caught and bowled) and the dangerous Marizanne Kapp (caught behind).
The remainder of the game seesawed with South Africa threatening a mammoth chase, although they were constantly pegged back by India—wicketkeeper Sinalo Jafta and Annerie Dercksen were both removed by the guile of Deepti Sharma’s mystery spin.
Amidst all this, Laura Wolvaardt had been battling her way to an extraordinary century, making her just the second player to achieve hundreds in both the semi-final and final of a World Cup. Ultimately, her heroics were in vain. After some farcical juggling in the deep, Amanjot held onto a match winning catch in the deep. A nation breathed a sigh of relief to see the back of Wolvaardt. The game was all but won when, in the same over, Tryon was dismissed lbw and Khaka was run out after attempting a perilous single.
Sharma sealed the deal for India when tailender Nadine De Klerk could only scoop her straight into the gleeful hands of India’s captain, Kaur, who wheeled away in celebration with her ecstatic teammates.
For South African cricket, this was yet another tale of ‘what could’ve been.’ They came within touching distance of a remarkable chase only to taste bitter defeat by 54 runs. For the Indian side, it was a day they will never forget after winning silverware in front of a crowd of jubilant home supporters.
“DY Patil IPL” by Sankarshan Mukhopadhyay from Pune, India is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.