India v SA – Plays of the final | Five moments that defined India’s historic World Cup win

South Africa’s dreams of winning the World Cup were crushed by India on Sunday in Navi Mumbai, as they lost the 2025 ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup final by 52 runs.

Ongama Gcwabe highlights five plays of the day from what was an entertaining World Cup final between two fine teams.

Knock | Wolvaardt simply irresistible 

A century in the final to follow up another in the semi-final against England – Proteas women’s captain Laura Wolvaardt has had a dream tournament in India. It was a knock of full measure, patience and skill. When the India bowlers had their tails up, swinging the ball both ways and turning it at will, Wolvaardt absorbed the pressure, and when an opportunity presented itself, the right-hander cashed in. A superb 101 off 98 balls, with 11 fours and one six, earns her the knock of the day.

Ball | Tryon gets Smriti

Smriti Mandhana fancies the cut shot, but the Proteas attack gave her very few opportunities to play it. When Chloé Tryon came into the attack, she delivered one back of a length, and Mandhana’s eyes lit up as she went for the cut.

The delivery wasn’t short or wide enough, and all she could do was find the edge. Sinalo Jafta took a sharp catch to hand the Proteas their first wicket of the day.

Drop | Bosch rues her miss

Shafali Verma and Mandhana had been difficult to dismiss, putting together 104 for the opening stand. When Mandhana fell, the Proteas knew they had to remove Verma quickly. They had a chance about three overs later when Verma struck Sune Luus’s spin towards the cow corner boundary, where Anneke Bosch was stationed. Bosch put it down. Verma was on 56 at that point and went on to add another 31 runs before being dismissed for 87.

Catch | And with that the game

Amanjot Kaur at deep mid-wicket took the catch that sealed India’s first-ever World Cup triumph. She juggled it three times before hanging on, but it proved decisive as it ended Wolvaardt’s masterful innings.

Deepti Sharma’s off-spin did the trick, the right-armer executing the perfect flighted delivery to get the big wicket and essentially hand India the game.

Ball | Some SA spin

There is something irresistibly satisfying about a slow left-arm orthodox delivery beating a right-hander with turn and smashing the stumps.

Proteas women’s premier spinner Nonkululeko Mlaba did just that when she bowled India captain Harmanpreet Kaur. Mlaba attacked the stumps, but Kaur looked to guide the ball fine, missed completely and watched her stumps light up. Mlba, once again in a big match, claimed a key wicket for South Africa.