India captain Harmanpreet Kaur and South Africa skipper Laura Wolvaardt pose with the trophy forward of the ICC Ladies’s World Cup 2025 remaining. — Fb/@cricketworldcup
The Ladies’s Cricket World Cup is about to crown a brand new champion on Sunday, when hosts India tackle South Africa, as each groups look to culminate their month-long, nine-match marketing campaign with a maiden international championship.
India are two-time finalists within the One-Day Worldwide world championship, having misplaced the 2005 and 2017 titles to Australia and England. In addition they misplaced the Ladies’s Twenty20 World Cup remaining to Australia in 2020.
South Africa are enjoying a World Cup remaining for the third 12 months in a row, having reached the T20 World Cup finals in 2023 and 2024, shedding to Australia and New Zealand. Nevertheless, that is the primary time they’ve reached a World Cup remaining within the 50-over format.
“We know very well how it feels like after losing. But the feeling after victory, that is something which we are really looking forward to,” India captain Harmanpreet Kaur informed reporters on Saturday.
India reached the semis because the fourth-best group within the league stage. However Kaur and Jemimah Rodrigues helped India pull off the largest profitable chase in girls’s ODI historical past on Thursday, beautiful seven-time champions and favourites Australia to succeed in the ultimate.
South Africa, who beat India within the league stage final month, earned a dominant 125-run win over four-time champions England in Wednesday’s semi-final, as captain Laura Wolvaardt put in a player-of-the-match efficiency, scoring 169 off 143 balls.
“The whole crowd is behind India, probably a sold-out stadium. It definitely puts a lot of pressure on them as they’re sort of expected to win. I think it plays in our favour a bit,” Wolvaardt mentioned.
“Every cricket game starts at zero. We can’t bring any history into the game. Knockout cricket is completely different from league cricket. People can do some very special things in knockout games like Jemimah the other night.”
Excessive stakes
Kaur mentioned India have been making ready for the chance to play within the World Cup remaining for the final two years.
“Last time we played in the World Cup final, we saw many changes in the sport back home. Women’s cricket took many steps forward, a lot of girls flocked to the grounds,” mentioned the 36-year-old.
“I’m sure, when we win the final, there will be even more changes. We will see much more cricket, not only at the international level, but domestically things will improve as well.”
For South Africa, who’ve by no means received a World Cup in males’s or girls’s cricket, the stakes are excessive as effectively.
“We recently got domestic contracts introduced. So, I can only imagine what something like a World Cup trophy will do back home. Just the number of girls that will be able to see it on TV, who will hear that we’re a World Cup-winning nation,” Wolvaardt mentioned.
