ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025 | Final: India vs South Africa | Preview and Predictions

After two thrilling semi-finals, we have our finalists for the 2025 ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup.

Co-hosts India pulled off a Houdini act for the ages against defending champions Australia to make the final, while Laura Wolvaardt led from the front to see South Africa sail into the final over England.

Here, we present our preview and predictions for the final of the 2025 ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup.

ICC Women’s CWC 2025 | Final: IND vs SA | 15:00 IST, November 2

The Women in Blue head to the final after taking down their biggest rivals, the tournament favourites, and the defending champions, Australia. After conceding 338, it looked like Australia were in for another final appearance, but Jemimah Rodrigues and India captain Harmanpreet Kaur had other plans and led the team to a record-breaking chase and seal a five-wicket win.

India’s first-choice opening pair of Smriti Mandhana and Pratika Rawal has been broken up, with the latter’s injury ruling her out for the remainder of the tournament. Shafali Verma has been brought in and slotted straight into the playing XI. With Verma coming into the side with not much match time behind her, Mandhana will have more responsibility on her shoulders. India’s biggest positive, though, will be Rodrigues and Kaur, both of whom have found form coming into the final after a below-average tournament. With Amanjot Kaur finishing games at No. 7, India have a long batting order.

For all their heroics with the bat, India’s fielding almost let them down against Australia, while their bowling was also mediocre at best. Kaur and the management know that another sloppy performance on the field cannot be allowed. With Rawal injured, India have one fewer bowling option, though spinners Deepti Sharma, Shree Charani, and Radha Yadav have been crucial during the middle and death overs. India know that they need to be more clinical, and there is plenty of experience in the bowling unit to make sure of that. 

South Africa, meanwhile, beat England by 125 runs in the other semi-final. However, even though it is undeniably a big win on paper, the Proteas know they were fortunate that their captain, Laura Wolvaardt, stepped up amid a batting collapse. Wolvaardt scored a stunning 169, but barring contributions from Tazmin Brits, Marizanne Kapp, and Chloe Tryon, hardly anyone made any contribution as the middle and lower orders collapsed. With the likes of Suné Luus, Anneke Bosch, Annerie Dercksen, and Kapp, there is a lot of experience in that middle order, which needs to step up.

With the ball, though, South Africa were clinical. Right from the first over, Kapp was on song and perfectly supported by Ayabonga Khaka and Nadine de Klerk. Barring a 107-run partnership between Nat Sciver-Brunt and Alice Capsey, South Africa were thoroughly in control with the ball. Wolvaardt will hope for more of the same in the final as well.

Here are two teams who have never lifted the Women’s Cricket World Cup trophy. While South Africa will be making their first-ever ODI World Cup final appearance, India have been runners-up twice before — in 2005 and 2017.

India’s heroic win against Australia sees them come into the final with more confidence on top of their added motivation to lift the trophy in front of the home crowd. However, South Africa have had a stellar tournament as well. Their men’s team ended their silverware drought earlier this year by winning the World Test Championship final, and now the women’s team have the chance to do the same.

The Navi Mumbai ground has shown that there are plenty of runs on offer for both sides, as the pitch hardly changes in the second innings. The star-studded batting line-up in both camps will be tested, and while both teams are well balanced and promise a close encounter, India hold a slight advantage.

Not only are India playing at home, they also have late momentum on the back of a record chase against the defending champions that could catapult them to the summit at the very end after a string of underwhelming performances in the league stage.

Fantasy XI: Smriti Mandhana (c), Laura Wolvaardt, Harmanpreet Kaur, Tazmin Brits, Richa Ghosh (wk), Nadine de Klerk, Marizanne Kapp (vc), Deepti Sharma, Nonkululeko Mlaba, Renuka Singh, Shree Charani

Venue: Dr DY Patil Sports Academy, Navi Mumbai
Winners Prediction: India