Team India created history as they defeated South Africa in the final to lift their first-ever Women’s World Cup trophy in 2025. In the final match, the two women who shone for India are Shafali Varma and Deepti Sharma.
Shafali received the Player of the Match award for scoring 86 runs and taking two important wickets. Deepti, on the other hand, became the first player in history – male or female – to score a half-century and take a five-wicket haul in a World Cup knockout match. However, captain Harmanpreet Kaur, has not credited either of the two for the turnaround they had in the World Cup. She has rather credited a fiery speech from head coach Amol Muzumdar.
India, during the group stage, were once at the brink of elimination, as they lost three matches on the trot against South Africa, Australia and England. During the post-match press conference, the Indian captain said that her team stayed positive despite the adversity, and there was no player who got extremely disheartened at the situation.
“The last month has been very interesting. Rarely do things go according to your plan and yet you stay so positive. We were really looking for this cup, which was something special in our grou. Not a single player said, ‘What will we do now? Everybody just thought, “It’s okay.” After losing the England match, we were really heartbroken. We were about to win that match, but we collapsed,” Harmanpreet said.
Harmanpreet Kaur Credits Amol Muzumdar
Harmanpreet Kaur also revealed that Amol Muzumdar, in an inspiring speech, said that the girls cannot repeat the same mistakes again and again, and they need to cross that line.
“We had seen this in the past. That day, (Amol Muzumdar) Sir also said, ‘You can’t make the same mistakes again and again. You have to cross that line.’ After that day, a lot changed for us,” Harmanpreet said.
“Every time, we cannot go on repeating the same things. We had to come with a strong mind. That night changed a lot for us. It had an impact on everyone,” she added.