People come to Mumbai to realise dreams, however audacious. Cricketers are no different. In 2011, M.S. Dhoni’s men won the ODI World Cup before a roaring Wankhede Stadium, ending a 28-year wait for glory. For the women’s team, the penance has been nearly twice as long. After faltering at the final hurdle thrice (2005, 2017, 2020) in ICC championships since the turn of the millennium, the Women in Blue needed a triumph to silence naysayers and their own dark doubts about their place in the sport. The opportunity presented itself on home soil.
Between October 19 and November 2, the belief of fair-weather fans, drawn to invest in the side by the hullabaloo of tournament cricket, wavered erratically. From immovable faith to misogynistic jokes, the Indian team’s popularity swung through the volatile tunnels of social media and popular discourse.
But Navi Mumbai, a cherished city for the team by virtue of its increased bilateral fixtures and the Women’s Premier League (WPL), doesn’t believe in being flippant.
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Roma, a jersey seller from Kolkata who hops on a train with her wares to every major cricketing fixture in the country, saw the economic upside of that faith.
“We typically print 500-1000 jerseys for every few games. I exhausted my stock before the semifinal,” she told Sportstar hours before the final. She was among the few to bring an extra bag of ‘Smriti’ and ‘Harman’ jerseys. After a point, she had to tell eager fans, “Those are over. Can I give you Virat’s number 18 instead?”
Hundreds, if not thousands, of fans lined up outside the D.Y. Patil Stadium, hoping to find tickets to the game, while cops simply tapped the massive sold-out sign whenever someone requested entry. Passes for the final, priced at Rs. 150 initially, had skyrocketed to 30 times that number when India pushed Australia off the knockout cliff, and rose to as high as Rs. 25,000 for the cheapest seats.
Among those desperate for seats were Smita and her daughter Samiksha, who was incidentally celebrating her birthday. Smita played gully cricket in an era when the sport was culturally not so accommodating of women.
“ Now my daughter will play, I will become you like you. (She will play and become like Jemimah Rodrigues),” she exclaimed about her academy-going child. The family had printed a flex of the Mumbai-born batting maverick, chanting for every player as they braved rain and nerves to partake in a memorable night for the nation.
Laura Wolvaardt’s masterful century in the semifinal against England in Guwahati made kids look up from their phones and watch in admiration.
| Photo Credit:
Lavanya Lakshmi Narayanan
Laura Wolvaardt’s masterful century in the semifinal against England in Guwahati made kids look up from their phones and watch in admiration.
| Photo Credit:
Lavanya Lakshmi Narayanan
Proteas win hearts
South Africa lost the final but went away winning plenty of hearts. Particularly skipper Laura Wolvaardt, who also smashed 571 runs, the most at a single edition of the tournament. In Navi Mumbai, an appreciative crowd rose in admiration when she scored her second consecutive ton in the final. Loud chants followed her final speech too.
A few days prior, in Guwahati which saw South Africa record a famous win in the first semifinal to send England out of the competition, Wolvaardt’s sublime form with the bat turned neutral fans into believers. Young volunteers who participated in the anthem ceremony, neutral fans who had no skin in the same, could be seen on their mobiles, playing videogames in unison during the slog overs of the key fixture. In the final 10 overs of the Proteas innings, Wolvaardt changed gears, finding boundaries with ease. The press, sitting right behind them in the media centre, saw the gaming app swapped for the camera app, with the kids recording as much of her incredible innings as they could and googling her story.
Ever the analytical brain, she took positives from the tournament. “Maybe I was being a bit too conservative or one dimensional. To win games, you’ve got to be positive and aggressive. I explored a bit of that in this tournament.”
Nearly 33 crore watched on the official streaming portal, JioHotstar, as India eventually lifted the coveted trophy. As many as 39,555 fans bore witness in person at the D.Y. Patil Stadium as several generations of women cricketers silently wept with joy. One could see how badly they wanted it in how tightly Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami hugged the cup and the players who included them in the festivities.
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This Navi Mumbai crowd has seen many of the South Africans during the WPL and made sure to chant in their honour too. Skipper Laura Wolvaardt, whose century pushed Indian fans to the brink of a breakdown, was given a standing ovation when she reached the hundred, and again when she spoke after collecting her runner-up medal.
Beyond the field, Smriti Mandhana featured in almost every second advertisement, from personal care brand Rexona to the State Bank of India, throughout the World Cup. Several players have endorsement deals with major apparel brands like Nike, Adidas, and Puma. Jemimah’s signing by Red Bull was announced days before the World Cup. Real estate player Omaxe revealed Harmanpreet as brand ambassador hours after the final. Several market analysis firms predict the monetary value of these players to rise by at least 20 per cent due to the visibility that comes with the World Cup win.
But Harmanpreet kept insisting on first living the moment in its entirety. Towards that end, she called all the female journalists present for a picture to celebrate “a moment for all women in the country”.
Harmanpreet Kaur’s emotional celebrations summed up the enormity of India’s triumph.
| Photo Credit:
Screengrab/BCCI Women
Harmanpreet Kaur’s emotional celebrations summed up the enormity of India’s triumph.
| Photo Credit:
Screengrab/BCCI Women
The enduring image of the night, however, would be the imposing Indian captain, known for her unfiltered aggression, jumping into her father’s arms, with him holding her like a five-year-old in tears. A nation’s dreams had been realised, countless families’ toils validated, and a bold new, lucrative future for a nation brimming with potential and promise had finally arrived.
Published on Nov 06, 2025
