The Borad of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have announced a cash prize of INR 51 crore for the Indian women's cricket team. This comes after they scripted history by defeating South Africa in the final of the 2025 Women's World Cup on Sunday. This win saw the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side become just the fourth team to win the mega-tournament since its inception. Notably, the Women in Blue had previously come up short in the finals of both the 2005 and 2017 editions, but managed to put painful history behind them and came out victorious on the third occasion.
Following the conlusion of the final, BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia confirmed that they will be giving the team a bumper cash prize of INR 51 crore and also thanked ICC chairman Jay Shah for significantly increasing the prize money of the Women's World Cup.
“Definitely, we have to thank Jay Shah, who is the chair of ICC, because just one month prior to this tournament, they increased the prize money of the ICC Women's World Cup. That is, there is an upshot of about 300 per cent of the prize money,” Saikia said, speaking to ANI.
“That is for the teams to receive it, but as a wonderful performance today in DY Patil Stadium when they have defeated South Africa to win the championship, BCCI is elated and without touching anything from the ICC's kitty, BCCI on its own is going to pay as a reward of 51 crores to the Indian team, that amount will go to the players, the selectors as well as the support staff headed by Amol Muzumdar,” he added.
India's fabulous all-round performance
Coming to the match, India put on a brilliant performance after being invited to bat first in the final. The opening pair of Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana provided the hosts with a strong start and formed a key partnership of 104 runs. Shafali ended up missing out on her hundred by a whisker and got dismissed for 87 runs. However, a fantastic half-century from Deepti Sharma and an impactful cameo of 34 from Richa Ghosh saw the Women in Blue post a daunting total of 298/7 after 50 overs.
Wolvaardt's ton goes in vain
In reply, though South Africa skipper Laura Wolvaardt gave her best efforts and even scored a sensational century, it didn't prove to be enough for her side at the end of the day. A stunning fifer from Deepti and two wickets from part-timer Shafali helped the hosts in bundling out the Proteas for 246 runs and win the coveted title for the first time in their history. This victory will definitely live in the hearts of Indian fans for years to come.