Captain Laura Wolvaardt said South Africa will look to silence the Indian fans in the final of the Women’s World Cup 2025 on Sunday. India and the Proteas will clash in the grand final at the Dr DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai where a new champion will be crowned.
Wolvaardt’s remark was echoed by the Australia captain Pat Cummins’ famous comment before the men’s World Cup final in November 2023 when he said he wanted to silence the crowd at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Cummins’ team went on to do just that as they won the title thanks to Travis Head’s match-winning century.
Ahead of Sunday’s encounter, Wolvaardt was asked by a journalist if she too hopes to appease the home crowd, with more than 90 per cent of the crowd expected to be Indian supporters.
Wolvaardt, when asked at the pregame press conference, said: “We hope to win. I think it will shut them up. Yeah.”
‘NOT THINKING ABOUT THE PAST’
South Africa and India are level at 3-3 in their head-to-head record. India won the first three meetings, but the Proteas hit back with three consecutive wins to draw. In fact, India have not beaten South Africa since their clash in Pretoria in 2005.
South Africa has already beaten India once in the ongoing World Cup, thanks to the all-round brilliance of Nadine de Klerk. But captain Laura Wolvaardt said her team is not dwelling on past results and will approach the grand final with a fresh mindset, starting from scratch.
“Yes, we think we try not to think too much about the past. Yeah, like I said earlier, every cricket match starts from scratch. We can’t bring anything from our history into this game,” Wolvaardt said.
“Whether it’s the finals we lost or the games we won against India, we’re really trying to erase all that stuff and start from scratch in this game. Yes, I think there’s a lot of pressure on both teams to perform and I think whoever stays calmest under that pressure is most likely to come out on top tomorrow,” Wolvaardt added.
South Africa opened their campaign with a commanding 10-wicket victory over England but finished third in the league stage. They then produced a clinical performance in the semi-finals in Guwahati to beat England’s Nat Sciver-Brunt to book their place in the final.
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Issued by:
sabyasachi chowdhury
Published on:
November 1, 2025
