India defeated South Africa in the 2025 Women’s World Cup finals to win the tournament for the first time. Here’s how their players reacted immediately after the win.
Shafali Verma is player of the match“At first, I said that God sent me to do something special and that is what was reflected today. I am very happy that we won the World Cup. I cannot express it in words. It was difficult (reaching the middle of the tournament) but I was confident that if I keep my confidence and stay calm, I will be able to do anything. My parents, friends and brother supported me a lot. Today, I was thinking that I need to run anyway and the team needs to win. My mind was completely clear. I batted according to my plans and I was happy with my execution. Smriti to He was constantly talking to me, Harman to He is always supportive. My teammates also supported me and were very welcoming as well. The seniors just said to play my natural game, not to stray from my natural game. (Sachin Tendulkar watches from the stands) It’s an unforgettable moment for me. When I saw Sachin sir, I got a special boost. I talk to him from time to time, he always gives me a boost. Today too I am inspired just by seeing him.”
Deepti Sharma is the best player of the tournament: “Honestly, this still feels like a dream. We have not yet come out of the woods. I am very happy to contribute to the World Cup final. I feel very happy. We just wanted to take advantage of every match. As for the fans, I would say they came in droves. I want to thank the fans, they supported us in every match. This would not have been possible without them. As a team, we feel good after this result. I just want to enjoy every section. I like the challenges. I had the racket and the ball in my hand, I had to play according to the situation, and I had a lot of fun.” What better moment, at this stage, to be an all-rounder in the team… I couldn’t be better than that (on Laura Wolfhardt) I think Laura played a very good innings, we were very calm, we kept encouraging everyone in the drinks break, we wanted to focus on our best balls and we did that (in terms of the changes you want to see) There has been a lot of change after 2017 and I hope we get to play more games, so it will be great.
Amanjot Kaur: “Everyone knew how important Wolfardt’s catch was. I think I fumbled for the first time in my life, and I’m happy that I got a second chance. That’s it, I have no words to express it. (What does this mean?) This means a lot. You can see the fans cheering. We have made history. This is just the beginning, and Indian cricket will be at the next level. We will dominate all over the world in every format. (Message to family) Congratulations to everyone, my family, my coach, whoever has family here, my grandmother is not feeling well, she is watching At home. (Support) I think this is their victory as well because they came in large numbers to support us. This is for everyone, this is for Pratica who missed the match due to injury.
Richa Ghosh: “(On the importance of the win) This win is of great importance. We have been waiting for the World Cup for a long time, (we had a long feeling) of when we would lift the cup. And today we won the cup. We are champions. I can’t explain this feeling but we are all very happy. You can see how emotional everyone is. It’s completely different. (Speaking in the crowd) I think the talk in the crowd was that this is the last day, another day and we just wanted to give it our all, no matter what happens, we just wanted to put our bodies on the line. (In the crowd) The end) There was pressure in the final, there were a lot of fans and fans, but I wanted to perform well, that was the main thing that everyone trusted me because I could get out of it, and that helped me a lot.
Pratika Rawal“Well, I can’t say it enough. There are no words. They won’t come out of my mouth. This flag on my shoulder, it means a lot to me. And you know, being here with my team, it’s surreal. I mean injuries are part and parcel of the game. I’m very happy that I was part of this team, this winning team. You know, this team, I love this team. I can’t express my feelings about this team. So “I’m very happy that we have managed to do this, and we are the first (Indian) team to win the World Cup in a long time. And the whole of India deserves it. To be honest, it was very difficult for me to sit and watch the game because it is very difficult to play inside, rather than watching from the outside, but seeing this energy, seeing this environment, it gave me goosebumps whenever there was a goal of six, you can see the energy it is really amazing.
0:31
Watch – Amanjot manipulates Wolfhardt’s crucial catch
Footage from the Women’s World Cup final between India and South Africa in Navi Mumbai
Smriti Mandhana“I don’t know how to react to that (being a world champion). I’m still overwhelmed with emotions. I wasn’t emotional on the cricket field, but just an absolutely unreal moment. World Cup on home soil. Just reading ‘Champions – India’, I still can’t process it. Every World Cup we’ve been in, there’s been a lot of heartache for all of us. But we always believe we have a greater responsibility towards women’s cricket and we honestly see the support we’ve gotten.” “In the last month and a half… I mean, I don’t know how to explain the last 40 days, but to finish it off by winning the World Cup today, I’m going to take 45 days of no sleep every night. (After exiting the last T20 World Cup before the semi-finals) The last T20 World Cup was tough for all of us, but we had a clear focus on trying to work on our fitness, trying to be better in every aspect of the super strength of this team -.” No one will talk about it – how everyone played for each other in the World Cup, you need everyone’s support, good days and bad days. We enjoyed each other’s success. I can’t tell you what the team environment is like.
Amol Muzumdar“(Feelings) absolutely proud, there’s no doubt about that. I don’t know, I haven’t got it yet. It’s an unbelievable achievement for all the girls. They deserve all the credit, they deserve everything that will follow from here because they’ve worked incredibly hard. I know for a fact that they made every Indian proud. (In previous losses) we didn’t look at those as losses, we just thought we couldn’t get over the line. We controlled a lot of them. There were some hiccups in the campaign, but we still survived the tournament and here we are.” World Champions on November 2, 2025. (On what this does to women’s cricket in the country) I don’t know, I’m sure they deserve whatever comes next, it’s a watershed moment for Indian cricket (one word… absolutely magical). “In the semi-final, no pressure… In the finals, home team fans, packed stadiums, scoring some goals with the ball. It’s so magical. (On the pitch) This was one of the things we talked about a lot in the dressing room the last couple of years, talking about playing on the pitch and fitness and here we are… they did it on this day in the World Cup final.”
