ICC Women’s World Cup final: Shafali Verma and Deepti Sharma star as India beat South Africa to historic victory

As the two teams battled for their first World Cup title, the pre-match talk was about who could handle the occasion – India faced huge expectations, in contrast to whether South Africa could use the underdog tag to their advantage.

As rain dashed any hopes of an on-time start, it was inevitable that the captain who won the toss would bowl first, but Navi Mumbai’s surface remained batting-friendly as was the case in the top-scoring semi-final between India and Australia, exemplified by Smriti Mandhana and Verma who calmly reached 64-0 in the powerplay.

It was South Africa’s bowlers who looked spent on the occasion as they bowled wide to the openers, who easily crossed the boundary, before Mandana was caught behind Chloe Tryon and Verma Ayabonga broke Khaka to mid-on.

The Proteas’ ground play was superb, but they were guilty of dropping five catches including the crucial one by Anneke Bosch with Verma on 56, while Deepti was also put on 35 and 37.

Verma was clearly distraught to miss her World Cup century, but it was an astonishing blow considering her late inclusion in the team and the size of the match, and her attacking nature was invaluable in taking the pressure off the girl of the tournament, Mandhana.

Semi-final hero Jemima Rodrigues fell for 24 after Verma gave South Africa a chance to regain control, but India showed impressive composure in maintaining partnerships, strengthened by Dipti, before Richa Ghosh’s dynamic 34 off 24 balls ensured the match was finished with late brilliance.

Although it took a record chase, there was a feeling that India did not have enough to feel completely comfortable – only adding 69 in the last 10 overs for the loss of three wickets – in the course of India’s semi-final chase of 339.

Although Deepti’s all-round performance was sensational throughout the tournament, few expected Verma to also be her partner on the ball.