An emotional Smriti Mandhana opened up after India lifted their maiden ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025 title at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai. The vice-captain of the Indian team said the victory felt unreal and very special, considering India’s past heartbreaks in 2005 and 2017.
In the post-match presentation, Smriti said she still couldn’t process the feeling: “I don’t know how to react to that [being World Champions]. Still sinking in. I haven’t been emotional on a cricket field before, but it’s just a very unreal moment. A home World Cup. Just to read ‘Champions – India’, I am still not able to process it.”
She also recalled the past heartbreaks in previous tournaments and said that the team had always taken it upon themselves to help grow women’s cricket.
“Every World Cup we go into, there have been so many heartbreaks for all of us. But we’ve always believed we have a bigger responsibility with women’s cricket. To genuinely see the support we’ve received over the last one and a half months… I mean, I don’t know how to explain the last 40 days. But to end it with a World Cup win today, I’ll take the 45 days of not sleeping every night,” she added.
Smriti also praised the team’s hard work since their last T20 World Cup, saying they had focused on fitness and improving in every area.
“The last T20 World Cup was a difficult one for all of us, but we had a clear focus on working on our fitness and trying to be better in every aspect. The super-strength of this team – no one will talk about it – is how everyone just stuck in and played for each other. In a World Cup you need everyone’s support, through good days and bad days. We enjoyed each other’s success. I can’t tell you how special the team environment is… that’s just magic,” she said.
In the final, India defeated South Africa by 52 runs. Deepti Sharma impressed everyone with both bat and ball, scoring 58 runs and taking a five-wicket haul. Shafali Verma contributed 87 runs and took two wickets. South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt struck a fighting century, but India sealed their first-ever ICC title in front of the home crowd.
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