Shafali and Deepti the home heroes as India make history

Wolvaardt hits another hundred but South Africa pay for dropped catches in final

- Raf Nicholson

At last, 50 years on from their debut on the world stage, India's dream came true: a first World Cup triumph, in front of a deafening full house in Navi Mumbai, as they defeated South Africa by 52 runs.

Laura Wolvaardt struck a magnificent century, going back-to-back after her winning effort against England in the semifinal, but while she finished the tournament with 571 runs - the most by any woman in a World Cup - the ultimate prize belonged to India.

They had two history-making heroes. The first was the unlikely figure of Shafali Verma, playing only because of the ankle injury sustained by Pratika Rawal in the group stages, but who chimed in with a career-best 87 from 78 balls and two wickets.

Then, just as this final threatened to become a nailbiter, Deepti Sharma - who had contributed 58 runs - executed the perfect yorker to bowl Annerie Dercksen and followed it up with the key scalp of Wolvaardt as Amanjot Kaur ran round from deep midwicket to take a diving juggle-catch. For Amanjot it was third time lucky with the catch: for India, third time lucky in a World Cup final.