The new winner of the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup is set to be crowned. According to the official website of the International Cricket Council (ICC), both the teams include many match-winning players. While India is set to create history on its home ground in Navi Mumbai, Laura Wolvaardt’s South Africa will also look to set a new record. After missing out on reaching the finals several times in ICC events in recent years, it has set a new record by defeating Harmanpreet Kaur’s team for the second time in the tournament.
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Even though they may not have won the match between the two teams in Visakhapatnam in the league stage on October 9, India should take confidence from a strong performance with the new ball, which reduced their opponents to 18/2 inside six overs, and restricted the Proteas to 81/5 with the help of the spinners. Laura Wolvaardt continued to play at the non-striker’s end after the dismissals of Tazmin Britts (0), Sune Luus (5), Marizanne Kapp (20) and Anneke Bosch (1), although the South African skipper found a partner in a 61-run partnership with Chloe Tryon as they staged a comeback to eventually seal victory.
Wolvaardt (470) is the leading run-scorer in the tournament, although her opening partner Brits have not been consistent and have not been able to match her century in the second match against New Zealand. The Brits may consider themselves a bit unlucky to be out against India in the league stage, although young star Kranti Gaur would disagree as she squandered a half-chance with a brilliant one-handed return catch. There will be more questions for South Africa as key fast bowler Renuka Singh Thakur missed the league stage matches.
This bowler, who has taken the most wickets in the history of the Women’s World Cup, will take the field with a new ball against the current number one ODI batsman. This match will be a dream match for the crowd and millions of viewers sitting at home. Kapp is going into this match with all her strength, as she broke the tournament record set by Jhulan Goswami with her performance of 5/20 against England in the semi-final, which included three of England’s top four batsmen.
Meanwhile, Mandhana was dismissed down the leg side at 24 runs per ball during India’s semi-final win over Australia. He also scored two half-centuries and a century while reaching the final. She was dismissed in single figures only once – in the first match of the tournament against Sri Lanka on 30 September. Their history in ODI cricket also suggests mutual respect between the players: Kapp has dismissed Mandhana only once in 116 balls, although the Indian batsman has had a strike rate of just 62 whenever they have faced him.
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India’s 25-year-old middle-order star has become the talk of international cricket after playing a brilliant innings of 127 not out against defending champions Australia in the semi-finals, however, repeating that success by returning after three days is a completely new challenge for him. Rodrigues was out for ducks in both matches in the league stage, so there will be extra attention given to him, although a lot has happened in the three weeks between the matches, which Rodrigues has detailed with refreshing honesty.
Having been out of the side and back into the side during the tournament, Rodrigues, who has struggled on many fronts to make a comeback into the Indian team and eventually shine again, will likely have to face the left-arm spin bowling, especially from Chloe Tryon and Nonkululeko Mlaba, who had dismissed her earlier in the competition. Deepti Sharma has a golden opportunity to finish the tournament at the top in terms of wickets, although this will probably be the most stressful test for her in the World Cup final.