After India won their first Women’s World Cup title with a 52-run victory over South Africa in Navi Mumbai on Sunday, opener Smriti Mandhana described it as “unreal” and said she was still having trouble comprehending the scope of her team’s accomplishment.
“I don’t know how to react to that, it’s still sinking in,” Mandhana said moments after the victory.
“I haven’t been emotional on the cricket field. But yeah, just a very unreal moment, home World Cup and just to read that we are Champions, I just can’t, I’m still not able to process it.”
India’s wait for a world championship was finally over after they had failed in earlier editions.
Mandhana, who played for the team that lost the 2020 T20 World Cup final, claimed that the players used their setbacks as inspiration.
“Every World Cup we go in and there have been so many heartbreaks for all of us,” she said.
“But we always believe that we have a bigger responsibility with women’s cricket and genuinely just to see the support we’ve got over the last one and a half month and to see people come in, support us.”
“It just… I don’t know how do I explain the last 40 days but yeah, I mean to end it with a World Cup win today, I will take that, 45 days of not sleeping every night.”
When considering the team’s path after the 2020 setback, Mandhana stated that India’s comeback was largely due to a fresh emphasis on togetherness, abilities, and fitness.
“The last T20 World Cup for sure was a difficult one for all of us to take. We had a clear focus on trying to work on our fitness, trying to be better at each and every aspect,” she said.
“The super strength of this team is no one will talk about it but it’s the way everyone just stuck in and just played for each other. In a World Cup like this, you just need everyone’s support. Everyone was there for each other, good days, bad days. We enjoyed each other’s success.
“I just can’t tell you the way the team environment is, and I think that’s really magic.”
Amol Muzumdar, the head coach of the Indian women’s team, praised his players for their unwavering work ethic and poise under pressure, calling their historic World Cup victory a “watershed moment” for Indian cricket.
“So proud of the girls. I don’t know It’s not yet sink in but it’s an unbelievable achievement by all the girls and they deserve every credit. They deserve everything that that will follow because they have worked terribly hard.”
“It’s a watershed moment for Indian cricket.”
Shafali Verma dominated the evening with an incredible all-around performance, taking two wickets for 36 runs in seven overs after hitting a quickfire 87.
Praising the 21-year-old opener, Muzumdar said: “One word — magical. Absolutely magical. She turns up in the semi-final, no pressure in the final in front of a packed home crowd, plays a blinder of an innings and then picks up a few wickets with the ball.”
India had lost three straight games to South Africa, Australia, and England during the tournament’s tough middle round. However, according to the coach, the team never considered those outcomes to be setbacks.
“We didn’t look at those losses as losses. We just thought that we just couldn’t get over the line. That’s about it. We dominated a lot majority of those matches so we didn’t look at this as losses,” he said.
“We just thought that there are some hiccups in the campaign. We were still alive in the tournament and here we are on 2nd November 2025 World Champions.”
The coach also acknowledged that India’s vastly improved fielding and fitness levels were crucial to the team’s championship victory.
“Absolutely, I mean that was one thing that we spoke a lot in the dressing room. In the last two years that your feeling and fitness was something that we really spoke about and we focused on it.
“And here we are, I mean, they just turned it up on this day in the World Cup final. I couldn’t have asked for more.”
