New Delhi [India], November 21 (ANI): Indian all-rounder Deepti Sharma, who secured the 'Player of the Tournament' award in India's historic ICC Women's World Cup 2025 triumph, said that she feels the 'luckiest' to have bowled the final delivery and it would always stay with her that she got the title-sealing wicket of Nadine de Klerk, the South African all-rounder who was having a brilliant tournament.

Deepti secured the 'Player of the Tournament' award in CWC 2025, scoring 215 runs in seven innings at an average of 30.71 and a strike rate of 90.33, with three fifties and a best score of 58 and topping the wicket-taking charts with 22 scalps in nine innings at an average of over 20. She came absolutely clutch in the final with a double of a half-century and a five-wicket haul, saving her best for the grandest occasion.

Speaking to ESPNCricinfo, Deepti said that the feeling of having won the title is 'still sinking in and the team wants to cherish them forever'.

'I am the luckiest one that I got to bowl that last delivery. Lifting that trophy was an amazing memory for me. [Nadine] de Klerk had been batting well throughout the World Cup, so her wicket was crucial. When only one wicket was left, we wanted to finish it off quickly,' she said.

Deepti said that the celebration of skipper Harmanpreet Kaur after taking the match-sealing catch off her bowling and the celebrations that followed will 'remain with her forever'. She also hailed all-rounder Amanjot Kaur's brilliant catch to remove SA skipper Laura Wolvaardt, calling it her 'Kapil Dev moment', similar to Indian legend grabbing Viv Richards' game-changing catch in the 1983 final against West Indies.

'Absolutely, those (visuals of celebrations) will remain with me forever. The way she (Amanjot) took the catch and started celebrating around the ground, it was like her Kapil Dev moment [Kapil's catch in the 1983 World Cup final to dismiss Viv Richards]. She kept the ball with her. Taking the last wicket is something I will remember forever,' she added.

Deepti revealed the team's belief right from the campaign opener against Sri Lanka, and they treated the title clash like a 'normal match'.

'The best thing about this team is the belief we have. Right from the first match [of the World Cup] we would discuss things in the team meetings, what the takeaways were, how to change our plans. We would always consider the options we had. And we were quite chill before the final. We were not thinking too much, and we treated it like a normal match. We just wanted to focus as much as we could for those seven to eight hours,' the all-rounder continued.

Deepti revealed that this time, even though a lot of players were young, they had a lot of clarity about their plan, positions and roles.

'For example, Shree Charani [21-year-old spinner] used to come to me and ask me questions on how I plan, what I would do in certain situations. So everyone was working towards the common goal of making this team win,' she added.

The all-rounder revealed that when they were playing the semifinal against the defending champions, they were 'treating it like a final' since they had to be on a different level mentally against the seven-time champions.

'When we were playing the semi-final, we treated it like a final. If we win the semi, only then will we be champions. So our main focus was only on that, because when you are up against seven-time champions, your mindset should be on a different level, your thinking has to be different. We knew what we had to do in the semi-final. We were very positive. We knew that if we play our best cricket, we could make it happen. We knew if there was one team Australia was wary of, it is India, and that it would not be a one-sided game. It is a good thing that the Indian team is planting doubts in the other team. You can understand how much Indian women's cricket has grown,' she concluded.

In the match, half-centuries from Shafali Verma (87) and Deepti Sharma (58) took India to 298/7 in 50 overs. South Africa were in the hunt with skipper Laura Wolvaardt (101) in sublime touch, but game-changing spells from Shafali (2/36) and Deepti Sharma (5/39) won India their maiden WC title with a 52-run win over the Proteas. (ANI)