India and SA prepare for game-changing World Cup final

For nan first clip successful 25 years, a caller sanction will beryllium inscribed connected nan Women's World Cup trophy arsenic India and South Africa meet successful Navi Mumbai connected Sunday.

Not only is this symbolic of nan maturation and improvement of nan game, but it is besides a mouth-watering imaginable considering nan seismic effect it will person for whoever is triumphant.

South Africa are cricket's perennial 'nearly' squad and while their men's squad collapsed their duck earlier this twelvemonth pinch a World Test Championship win, for Laura Wolvaardt's broadside it has been a communicative of adjacent misses.

The spine-tingling infinitesimal of a afloat Cape Town crowd singing nan nationalist anthem astatine nan T20 World Cup last successful 2023 was truthful affectional that it almost eclipsed their eventual conclusion by Australia, but nan pursuing year's nonaccomplishment to New Zealand successful nan last was nan 1 that sewage away.

India, meanwhile, are women's cricket's imaginable game-changers.

They person besides had their adjacent calls, astir importantly nan nine-run conclusion by England astatine Lord's successful 2017, and ever since location has been a lingering consciousness that it was only a matter of when, and not if, nan squad including generational talents successful Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur and Deepti Sharma would get their hands connected a trophy.

Outside nan DY Patil Stadium connected Saturday, still 24 hours distant from nan first shot being bowled, location were crowds of group gathered extracurricular nan gates, screaming and hopeless to drawback a glimpse of nan squad training and to scramble for last-minute tickets.

There is simply a grounds magnitude of prize money connected connection to nan victor (£3.3m), which would spell a agelong measurement for South African cricket which is reaching finals successful spite of its under-resourced home system.

For India, it is arguably little astir nan money and much astir nan displacement successful reach, attraction and opportunity.

Regardless of nan result, history beckons - but it is an India triumph connected location ungraded which could signify a alteration successful nan world order.

It is not hyperbolic to opportunity that lives will beryllium changed by this World Cup final.

Both teams - countries wherever opportunities for women and girls successful athletics are acold little accessible aliases accepted than nan likes of England aliases Australia - are littered pinch stories of resilience and overcoming adversity.

There is Shafali Verma, nan India opener who trim her hairsbreadth short truthful that she could enrol herself arsenic a boy astatine an academy.

Her team-mate Radha Yadav utilized her Women's Premier League (WPL) net to bargain her begetter a market shop to support nan family.

Jemimah Rodrigues, nan leader of India's astonishing semi-final against Australia, grew up playing cricket connected nan streets of Mumbai pinch her brothers because location were nary girls teams for her to play in.

She besides waited arsenic a 16-year-old, earlier her world debut, astatine Mumbai airdrome to shake hands India's 2017 finalists. Now she has her ain chance to spell 1 measurement further.

"What I'd emotion to travel from nan extremity of this World Cup is for girls successful India to not person to dress to beryllium boys to play cricket," Alex Hartley, a World Cup victor successful 2017, told nan BBC Test Match Special.

"No matter what happens connected Sunday, they tin conscionable beryllium girls who play cricket alternatively than having to dress to beryllium personification else."

For South Africa, location is Nonkululeko Mlaba. The spinner grew up connected a township successful KwaZulu-Natal and had to move to accommodation provided by Cricket South Africa to beryllium nearer to their training accommodation because of nan agelong and perchance unsafe journeys she would person to take.

Up-and-coming all-rounder Annerie Dercksen spent her puerility connected a workplace pinch nary entree to television, discovering cricket by reference nan newspaper.

Opener Tazmin Brits overcame a devastating car clang which ended her Olympic javelin dream, but this twelvemonth has deed a grounds 5 hundreds of years to go a important personnel of nan broadside successful its 3rd consecutive ICC final.

They person continually defied nan likelihood and surgery down barriers. A World Cup triumph will not beryllium nan extremity of nan issues that women look successful position of entree to sport, acquisition aliases equality but it could spell a agelong measurement successful showing what is possible.

Neither squad has had a soft thrust into nan final, which makes it a difficult 1 to call.

South Africa's 5 consecutive group-stage wins, including a three-wicket thriller against India, were sandwiched by being bowled retired for 69 and 97 against England and Australia respectively.

After nan latter, they were not favourites to hit England successful nan semis but responded pinch 1 of their astir awesome all-round efforts, led by Wolvaardt's unforgettable 169 and nan unstoppable Marizanne Kapp's 5-20.

As South Africa's stars, they will beryllium expected to measurement up again connected Sunday.

Where Wolvaardt is unflappable and calm, Kapp is nan warrior. Even 5 World Cups in, she cannot clasp backmost nan tears astatine nan nationalist anthem, and looks for illustration she will combust pinch passion astatine each wicket she claims.

For India, it will beryllium astir whether they tin negociate nan weight of anticipation and discuss nan emotions of that staggering semi-final, pinch skipper Harmanpreet emphasising nan value of being mentally refreshed from it.

"The semi-final was a very high-pressure crippled and very intense," said nan captain.

"We person been talking astir really we tin beryllium much focused and much balanced and astatine nan aforesaid clip keeping ourselves relaxed because this is nan biggest shape and biggest opportunity for us, playing successful a location final.

"But I deliberation nan astir important point is that we person to bask this because location is thing bigger than this successful our life, arsenic a cricketer and for maine arsenic a captain."

India person nan separator successful position of location advantage, while they person played 3 games astatine nan DY Patil successful this title to South Africa's none.

"It's going to beryllium a very reliable game, pinch nan full crowd down India," said Wolvaardt.

"But astatine nan aforesaid clip I deliberation it puts a batch of unit connected them arsenic well. They person nan full state down them and are benignant of expected to win.

"I deliberation that plays successful our favour, hopefully. We're going to person to play immoderate really bully cricket to hit them but we're really excited for nan opportunity."

A sell-out is expected, and if nan ambiance tin lucifer what was provided successful nan semi-final, it will beryllium electric.

It worked successful their favour against Australia but South Africa will dream to transmission their soul Pat Cummins from 2023 - arsenic nan Australia skipper said, nan champion point astir a large crowd is nan expertise to soundlessness them.