India Beat South Africa by 52 Runs in Navi Mumbai on 2 November 2025 to Win a First Women's Cricket World Cup, After Losing the Finals of 2005 and 2017

India’s women beat South Africa by 52 runs on 2 November 2025 to win the Women’s Cricket World Cup for the first time. India made 298 for 7 in 50 overs, South Africa were bowled out for 246 in 45.3 overs, and captain Harmanpreet Kaur took the catch that ended the match. The International Cricket Council (ICC) lists the ground as the Dr DY Patil Sports Academy in Navi Mumbai, which other ICC pages call DY Patil Stadium.

It was India’s third final. Australia beat India in 2005 and England beat it in 2017. Since the title, India has won a Test at Lord’s, failed to reach the semi-finals of the 2026 T20 World Cup, and on 6 October 2026 swapped its captain.

How the final went

South Africa won the toss and chose to bowl, the ICC’s report says. Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana put on 100 for the first wicket inside 15 overs. Verma made 87 and Mandhana 45; Deepti Sharma added 58 and Richa Ghosh 34 at the end.

Laura Wolvaardt, South Africa’s captain, scored 101 and her side needed 299. South Africa were 209 for 5 when the chase fell apart: the last five wickets went for 37 runs. Deepti Sharma took 5 for 39, including Wolvaardt and Chloe Tryon in the same over. Verma took 2 for 36, the wickets of Sune Luus and Marizanne Kapp. Amanjot Kaur ran out Tazmin Brits with a direct hit, and Sree Charani trapped Anneke Bosch lbw.

The ICC named Verma player of the match. She had been left out of India’s one-day squad against Australia earlier in 2025, and joined the World Cup squad before the semi-final only as a replacement for the injured opener Pratika Rawal. “The last year was tough for me,” she told the ICC.

Three losses, a washout and a record chase

India started with a 59-run win over Sri Lanka (decided by the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method, the rain-rule formula) and an 88-run win over Pakistan. Then it lost three in a row: to South Africa by three wickets, to Australia by three wickets after scoring 330, and to England by four runs. The Bangladesh match was abandoned because of rain.

India then beat New Zealand by 53 runs under DLS after making 340 for 3, with centuries from Mandhana and Rawal.

The semi-final against Australia was on 30 October in Navi Mumbai. India made 341 for 5 with nine balls to spare, the highest successful chase in women’s one-day internationals, the ICC says. Jemimah Rodrigues scored an unbeaten 127 and Harmanpreet Kaur 89.

From 1973 to the first title

Women played a World Cup before men did. The first, in England in 1973, came two years ahead of the men’s, Wisden says. Seven teams took part, backed by the patron Jack Hayward, and England and Australia met in the final at Edgbaston. India had asked to enter too late.

India hosted the second tournament in 1978 and made its debut there, according to The Week’s history of the game. The money was thin. The Week reports that before the 1982 World Cup the players paid Rs 10,000 each out of their own pockets to travel, and that India missed the 1988 edition after a dispute between officials of the Women’s Cricket Association of India and the sports minister, Margaret Alva. The association merged into the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in 2006.

The finals of 2005 and 2017

In April 2005 at SuperSport Park in Centurion, Australia made 215 for 4, with Karen Rolton unbeaten on 107. India were all out for 117 in 46 overs, with four run-outs, and lost by 98 runs, The Tribune reported.

In the 2017 final at Lord’s India lost by nine runs, three days after Harmanpreet Kaur’s unbeaten 171 off 115 balls against Australia in the semi-final, the ICC records. Mithali Raj, who captained India in both finals, is the only Indian captain to lead the team in two World Cup finals, Wisden’s report on her retirement says.

Raj, Goswami and the players of 2025

Raj retired on 8 June 2022 with 7,805 runs in 232 one-day internationals, the most in women’s cricket, and had captained India in 155 of them, Wisden says. Jhulan Goswami, the fast bowler, retired in September 2022 with 44 Test wickets, 255 in one-day internationals and 56 in Twenty20 internationals, the ICC says, and the 255 was the most in the 50-over format.

In 2025 Mandhana scored 434 runs, passing Raj’s 409 from 2017, and Richa Ghosh hit 12 sixes, which tied the record for one World Cup, according to the ICC. Deepti Sharma scored 215 runs and took 22 wickets, the first player to pass 200 runs and 20 wickets in a single World Cup.

The BCCI announced a reward of Rs 51 crore (Rs 510 million) on 3 November 2025 for the players, support staff and selection committee. Its president, Mithun Manhas, said the win “vindicates the investment and faith the BCCI placed in building a world-class women’s programme.” Tuput’s profile of Neeraj Chopra covers India’s best-known javelin thrower.

The year since the title

In the Women’s Premier League final in Vadodara in February 2026, Royal Challengers Bengaluru beat Delhi Capitals by six wickets. Delhi made 203 for 4 and Bengaluru chased it with two balls to spare, the highest successful chase in WPL history. Mandhana scored 87 off 41 balls and finished the season with 377 runs, the league’s report says.

On 13 July India won the one-off Test at Lord’s by 270 runs, its first women’s Test win at the ground. Yastika Bhatia made 113, Kranti Gaud took 5 for 37, and England were bowled out for 186 chasing 457, the ICC says.

The T20 World Cup went worse. Australia beat India by six wickets at Lord’s on 28 June, scoring 172 for 4 in 19 overs, the highest successful chase in the tournament’s history. That result put South Africa into the semi-finals ahead of India. In the same match Deepti Sharma dismissed Beth Mooney for her 356th international wicket, one more than Goswami’s 355. The ICC’s page for the India team lists India third in both the women’s ODI rankings (rating 124) and the T20I rankings (264).

A new captain on 6 October 2026

In early September, in a Women’s Asia Cup match against Hong Kong, China, Mandhana scored 124 off 64 balls. Her career total reached 10,880 runs, which the ICC says made her the leading run-scorer in women’s international cricket, ahead of Raj, and the innings was her 18th hundred.

India’s final match under Harmanpreet Kaur was the Asian Games final in Aichi-Nagoya on 22 September, a 147-run win over Sri Lanka and India’s second gold in women’s cricket after Hangzhou in 2023. Tuput’s piece on India’s Olympic hockey medals covers the men’s gold at the same Games.

On 6 October Kaur stepped down as captain in all formats after leading India in 211 matches, the ICC says. She remains in the squad. The BCCI says she is the most-capped player in women’s international cricket and the first to appear in 200 Twenty20 internationals.

The board named Mandhana captain the same day. She had captained India in 18 Twenty20 internationals and four one-day internationals before. Her first series is against Zimbabwe: three Twenty20 matches in Raipur on 16, 18 and 20 October, then three one-day matches in Vadodara on 23, 25 and 28 October.