South Africa left to ponder what-could-have-been moments

In sport, the victor gets all the plaudits and accolades. And rightly so. What about the defeated team or athlete and their gamut of emotions? Those few minutes at the presentation ceremony, where South Africa’s cricketers stood almost motionless wondering what might have been after they lost the final of the 2025 World Cup, have to be one of the toughest phases of their sporting careers. 

The legendary Marizanne Kapp, who has seen many a heartbreak, had tears in her eyes, and the Indian duo of Jemimah Rodrigues and Radha Yadav tried to comfort her. Laura Wolvaardt essayed another splendid knock, but the South African skipper’s hundred went in vain. When the cameras zoomed in on the South African dugout after the final wicket fell, one could observe Wolvaardt’s glum-looking and expressionless face. She too might have been wondering – Why is it always us? 

So, what really went wrong in South Africa’s third ICC Women’s World Cup final? At RevSportz, we list out a few reasons.

‘Catches do win matches’

On occasions, that might seem like a cliche. But it turned out to be a harsh truth for the South African team. South Africa dropped three catches, with Anneke Bosch fluffing two of them. Shafali Verma, the game-breaker for India, was dropped on 56, and she added another 31 to her tally. Deepti Sharma, who put on an impressive all-round show, was also given a life in the 41st over. She batted right until the last over of the innings and made a vital contribution of 58. 

Wolvaardt not provided with the supporting cast 

Wolvaardt continued her rich vein of form from the semifinal game with a stroke-filled hundred. But in a team game, just one player can’t take a side past the finishing line. Annerie Dercksen, batting at No. 7, was the next-highest scorer with 35. More importantly, most of the batters couldn’t farm the strike, and played out a lot of dot balls. When Wolvaardt was dismissed, she had faced a mere 98 deliveries out of 247 balls. That is a little less than 40 per cent of the deliveries bowled by the Indian team at that point of time. That tells a story. 

What about South Africa’s new-ball bowlers?

It is true that Shafali played a blinder at the top of the order. But it is also a fact that South Africa’s opening pace duo of Kapp and Ayabonga Khaka weren’t disciplined enough. Perhaps it was a case of Shafali disrupting the lengths of the pacers by taking a step or two out of the crease. There is a school of thought that the right-hand opener is suspect against the inswinger. But her coming down the track to the pace bowlers resulted in Khaka and Kapp drifting a few deliveries down the leg side. At the completion of 10 overs, India already had a sound foundation, with 64 on the board. 

In the eventual analysis, the better skilled team won. But in a fantasy world, this could have been South Africa’s crowning moment. Alas, it wasn’t to be.