Shafali Varma, Deepti Sharma lead India to maiden World Cup glory

Shafali Varma scripted one of the greatest comeback stories in the history of the sport by delivering an epic performance in the ICC Women's World Cup final to hand India their maiden world title. Gaining a backdoor entry into the Indian squad just before the knockouts, Verma came up with a clutch 87 in the final - her highest ODI score - before following it up with crucial wickets that swung the contest in India's favour. Alongside Verma, India also found another major contributor in eventual player of the tournament Deepti Sharma who also came up with an impressive allround performance. As a result, India's long wait for their first ever World Cup trophy came to an end as they inflicted a 52-run loss on South Africa, who finished runners-up for the third straight time in women's ICC tournaments despite Laura Wolvaardt's heroics.

India posted a commanding 298/7 - their third highest ODI total without an individual hundred. The home side had multiple contributors beginning from their opening pair that was involved in a century stand. With rain delaying the start by a couple of hours, the general consensus was that batting would be difficult in the initial few overs. In contrast, Verma looked in positive touch, coming down the track to negate the movement that was on offer. The swashbuckling opener found the boundary regularly as India made a flying start. Smriti Mandhana too joined in with a couple of boundaries off Ayabonga Khaka as India raced to 45/0 in the opening six overs, much to the capacity crowd's delight.

However, South Africa then applied the squeeze from thereon after making bowling changes as only 47 runs came from the next ten overs despite the fact that India didn't lose a wicket. Chloe Tyron finally broke the deadlock by getting rid of Mandhana. India's run rate was still quite healthy though with Verma continuing to sizzle, going past fifty in style. With the semifinal hero Jemimah Rodrigues also getting off to a decent start at the other end, the signs were ominous for the South Africans. But once again, they managed to halt India's progress by sending both the set batters back to the pavilion with Verma missing out on her maiden ton by 13 runs.

That forced Harmanpreet Kaur and Deepti Sharma to rebuild for India and while they were fairly successful, India lost their captain at a critical juncture. Amanjot Kaur didn't make an impact either leaving the onus on Deepti and Richa Ghosh to finish well. The duo certainly didn't disappoint as they added crucial runs. Ghosh in particular looked in terrific touch ever since she hammered her second ball over extra cover for six. With Deepti also getting to a fifty at the other end, India were on track again to finish with a total beyond 300 before the South Africans delivered two tight overs to keep the hosts to 298 instead.

South Africa then made the ideal start in the powerplay despite stuttering initially to get off the blocks. India's new ball bowlers conceded just 12 runs in the opening four overs of the chase with Tazmin Brits in particular struggling on 6 off 16. Wolvaardt then took up the mantle of pushing the scoring rate as she hit a boundary each in the next two overs which was then followed by a six from Brits over long off. Wolvaardt then creamed back-to-back fours off Amanjot in her first over as South Africa raced to 51/0 after 9 overs. Amanjot's brilliance in the next over though gave India their first breakthrough as she came up with a direct hit to send Brits packing.

Wolvaardt continued to threaten with boundaries but India took control with one more wicket at the other end. Anneke Bosch finished her horror tournament with a third duck after getting trapped lbw by Shree Charani. South Africa did stage a brief recovery post the drinks break with the boundaries starting to flow again. Sune Luus looked in great touch and Wolvaardt went past 500 runs in the tournament and registered another fifty in the process. However, Harmanpreet's decision to throw the ball to Verma in the 21st over proved to be a masterstroke that caught South Africa off guard. She struck off just her second delivery as Luus chipped one back to the bowler and in her next over, Marizanne Kapp edged a delivery down leg to get caught by the keeper as the game turned on its head in dramatic fashion.

Deepti then inflicted more misery on the batting side with one more wicket that brought Sinalo Jafta's frustrating stay in the middle to a close. Looking for some inspiration to get the chase back on track, Annerie Dercksen pounced on a no-ball from Radha Yadav to plunder back-to-back sixes. Dercksen slowly grew in confidence and with Wolvaardt looking settled at the other end, South Africa were just not ready to give up. It was then Deepti's turn to come up with a moment of magic as she delivered an inch-perfect yorker to castle Dercksen. In her very next over, Deepti also bagged the all-important wicket of Wolvaardt who had just brought up another ton following her semifinal heroics.

With Deepti also trapping Tyron lbw three balls later, the writing appeared to be on the wall for the South Africans as the chase collapsed dramatically. Nadine de Klerk, who stunned India in the league stage encounter, threatened briefly to pull off another rabbit out of the hat. But the task in hand was a lot stiffer as South Africa eventually caved in to get bowled out for 246 with Deepti deservingly picking the final wicket to finish with a five-fer.

Brief scores: India 298/7 in 50 overs (Shafali Verma 87, Deepti Sharma 58; Ayabonga Khaka 3/58) beat South Africa 246 in 45.3 overs (Laura Wolvaardt 101; Deepti Sharma 5/39, Shafali Verma 2/36) by 52 runs