Winning

The Indian Women's cricket team successfully hosted and won the World Cup. This was the first time that they clinched the trophy. As a result, it has changed the landscape for women in the sport. They have also been treated like heroes.

It came at a critical turning point for women’s cricket in India, where the sport verges on a national religion, is a multi-billion dollar industry but also widely regarded as a, "gentleman’s game." It was only in 2017 that female cricketers were given full-time professional contracts and a women’s premier league (WPL) established in 2023.

Varnika Choudhary, who plays for the Uttar Pradesh state under-23s women’s team, described how her small village of Beerakheri had always been very resistant to her playing cricket and it had taken two years to convince her parents to let her play. Even as the cricket-crazy village regularly gathered to watch the Indian Premier League (IPL) and Men’s Cricket World Cup, women’s professional cricket was widely ignored.

This time, said Choudhary, the whole village sat in the square to watch the Women’s World Cup final this past Sunday. "Everyone in my village got so excited when they won," she said. "They were all sending me photos and reels and messages saying: 'This will be you winning for India one day.'" Many in her village had been particularly impressed by Verma’s batting. "They told me, wow she’s hitting like a man," said Choudhary. "I had to correct them and say, no she’s hitting like a woman."

Hundreds of millions of people across India tuned in to watch the final and Choudhary was among the many who saw the win as a pivotal moment, not just for women’s cricket but for women in India more broadly and their battle for equality in the country’s still deeply patriarchal society. Though more women in India are being educated, they endure heavy societal burdens on how they are expected to behave and present themselves in public and are uniformly lower paid across all sectors.

"More women playing cricket changes everything, not just in the sport," Choudhary said. "We feel independent, we feel we are doing something for ourselves and that society can finally see us equal to the men."

Sharda Ugra, one of India’s foremost cricket writers, said the significance of the match went beyond cricket. "For Indian women in the public space, your body is usually seen as a source of honour or shame," she said. "So to see these girls – who mostly come from rural small towns – running around, sweaty, shouting, screaming and uninhibited about what they looked like, sent a very powerful message. It was quite wonderful to see."

The national team, led by the captain, Harmanpreet Kaur, have become Indian sporting royalty after their win and this week were hosted at the residence of the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. The significance of their triumph for women in India was widely acknowledged by the team, who paid tribute to the female cricketers who had paved the way before them. Without this trophy, said Kaur after the match, “the revolution, the change we want, won’t come”.

Ugra said she believed the win would trigger, "a mass movement towards making cricket a sport that girls play for leisure, for enjoyment, as a profession" but emphasised that women’s cricket still had a long way to go in India to catch up with the IPL, a franchise valued at about $18.5bn (£14bn).

There are only five teams in the WPL and the resources and cricket academies available for young women are still limited, especially in rural regions. Women’s cricket in India also does not have its own governing body, falling instead under the men’s.

At a cricket academy in Delhi’s Gargi college, the impact of the win was already being felt. Standing on the pitch in her cricket whites with her hands on her hips, 11-year-old Kiera Kareer said she was more motivated than ever to play for the national team one day. "This winning match proved to everybody that women’s cricket is as good as men’s, they played very smoothly, she said. "We can hit as hard and we can run as fast. In fact, I think they played better than the men."

A few years ago, Spreeha Maurya, now 18, was the only girl attending this academy and had spent years playing with boys. The coaches, so determined to get girls into the sport, had initially let Maurya play for free.

"It was so inspiring and motivating to watch the final, and see the stadium completely packed and everyone screaming and cheering when they won. I had never seen people react to women’s cricket like that before," said Maurya.

"I think winning this World Cup has solidified it in our mind that women can do everything and it’s not a gentleman’s game any more."

Standing on the sidelines, her father, Rudal Maurya, 54, said when he had first brought his daughter to state trials, there had only been about 40 girls – this year, there were about 500 who attended. Looking around at the field, where girls as young as six stood in the batting nets, his eyes welled up.

"The mindset is changing, so many more parents will bring their girls for training now and that can change the society,” he said. “My daughter is so passionate about cricket. It is the dream of our whole family that one day, she too will play for India."

Following India's win at the Women's World Cup 2025, the BCCI has announced a cash prize of INR 51 crore for the players, support staff and the selection committee. The team will also receive USD 4.48 million (approx. INR 40 crore) as prize money from the ICC.

"On behalf of the board, I congratulate the Indian women's cricket team on this historic world championship victory," BCCI president, Mithun Manhas, said in a statement. "The team's resilience, talent and togetherness have lifted our nation's hopes. This triumph vindicates the investment and faith the BCCI placed in building a world-class women's programme."

India defeated South Africa by 52 runs in front of a crowd of 39 555 at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi, Mumbai last Sunday. Asked to bat, the Harmanpreet Kaur-led unit posted 298-7 with Shafali Verma scoring 87 off 78. Led by Player-of-the-Tournament, Deepti Sharma's five-wicket haul, India then bowled South Africa out for 246 despite captain, Laura Wolvaardt, scoring a century.

"This phenomenal achievement is the result of relentless preparation, flawless execution and the unshakable belief of our women cricketers," BCCI secretary, Devajit Saikia said. "The coaching staff, support personnel and every state association have played a role. Congratulations to each and every member of the team. This team has made the entire cricket fraternity proud."

India had won the Under-19 Women's T20 World Cup in 2023 but this was their first senior world trophy. They had come close twice, finishing runners-up in 2005 and 2017. India beat Australia in the semi-final at the same venue to set up a title-clash with South Africa, who had overcome England in the other semi-final in Guwahati.

From the squad that won the World Cup, Shafali Verma has been named North Zone captain for the Senior Women's Inter-Zonal T20 Trophy. She will miss the opening match as the victorious Indian team is due to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi.

They had two history-making heroes. The first was the unlikely figure of Shafali Verma, playing in this match only because of the ankle injury sustained by Pratika Rawal in the group stage but who chimed in with a career-best 87 from 78 balls and two wickets.

Then, just as this final threatened to become a nailbiter, Deepti Sharma – who had contributed 58 runs – executed the perfect yorker to bowl Annerie Dercksen and followed it up with the key scalp of Wolvaardt as Amanjot Kaur ran round from deep midwicket to take a diving juggle‑catch. For Amanjot it was third time lucky with the catch: for India, third time lucky in a World Cup final.

"I am so grateful for this crowd – thank you for being there for us," India’s captain, Harmanpreet Kaur, said, even as their booming cheers made it impossible for her to hear the post-match interview questions. "We lost three back-to-back games, but we knew this team had something special to turn things around."

The India head coach, Amol Mazumda, said: "They’ve done every Indian proud. It’s a watershed moment for Indian cricket."

For South Africa, the nightmare: after the T20 despair of 2023 and 2024, another World Cup slipping through their fingers. Shafali and Deepti contributed half-centuries, while Richa Ghosh struck 34 off 24 balls as India reached 298-7 – and yet all had offered up chances.

Most egregious was the catch spilled at deep midwicket by Anneke Bosch, who grassed Shafali’s slog‑sweep at deep midwicket when the India opener was on 56.

For the 21-year-old Shafali, this was the culmination of a surreal week: Tuesday, approved as an injury replacement for Pratika; Thursday, dismissed after five balls in the semi‑final; Sunday, hitting the winning knock in a World Cup final.

Then there was her bowling, which took everyone by surprise – not least the South Africans. Before Sunday, Shafali had bowled just 14 overs in 30 one-day internationals. But in Navi, Mumbai, in a World Cup final, her 15th and 16th proved to be deeply significant. First, Suné Luus pinged back a limp return catch. Then Marizanne Kapp poked at one down the leg side and was caught behind.

Harmanpreet called Shafali’s spell the turning point: "I just saw Shafali standing there, and the way she batted today, I knew it was her day. I thought: 'I have to go with my gut feeling. I’m going to give her one over'. She was like: ‘I’m going to bowl 10 overs for the team.’ That shows how confident she was."

Play had been delayed for two hours by rain, leading South Africa to opt to bowl first in the hope of sticky, tricky batting conditions first up.

While I'm obviously disappointed that South Africa lost, I'm happy that cricket is being popularised in the female sector. I'm all for equality between male and females. It's unfair for one gender to get all the attention despite the other also participating in an activity.