Flurry of runs, defiant comebacks, constant rain interruptions -- what will the ICC Women's World Cup 2025 be remembered for down the line?
The eight-team tournament, which kicked off on September 30 in Guwahati, came to a conclusion on Sunday, with hosts India and South Africa battling it out in the final in Navi Mumbai. India sealed their first ever title by handing South Africa a 52-run defeat in front of a passionate home crowd.
The match began two hours later than scheduled owing to rain -- almost befitting considering how unlucky this tournament had been weather-wise overall.
Out of 31 matches over the course of 34 days, six ended in no results owing to rain and wet outfield. Never before had so many matches ended without a victor in a Women's World Cup.
The number of no results would have most likely been much fewer had the geopolitical tensions between India and Pakistan not seeped into cricket.
Both countries no longer send their teams to their neighbouring nation and as a result, the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, Sri Lanka was added as the fifth venue for the event.
It hosted 11 matches in total -- including all of Pakistan's matches -- seven of them were affected by rain and five ended in no result.
But even with poor weather, the 2025 edition has arguably been the most entertaining one in the tournament's history considering the high volume of runs being scored.
Before the final, teams crossed the 300-run mark a total of eight times in this year's event -- most ever in a single edition and double of the previous best which happened in the 2022 edition held in New Zealand.
A surprising fact is that the number of centuries from the 2022 to 2025 editions -- excluding the final -- has improved by only one, going from 13 to 14, even though the teams put up bigger totals more consistently.
This signals a change in how teams are approaching batting in WODI -- making a more conscious effort to reach the 300-run mark -- and also how the women's game is evolving at a rapid rate.
An even bigger indication of this evolution, however, is who made it to this year's final, and who did not.
Since the very first edition back in 1973, Australia and England have been a near constant in the final, with at least one of them being in the final in the first 12 editions.
This set pattern was smashed by India and South Africa, who eliminated seven-time champions Australia and four-time winners England respectively in the semifinals.
Hosts India, after being the last side to earn a place in the semifinals, knocked out the defending champions by scripting an incredible 339-run chase in a match that is already being considered the greatest successful chase in the history of women's cricket.
Jemimah Rodrigues played the innings of her life to send Harmanpreet Kaur's side to the final on home turf.
South Africa's journey to the final was no less dramatic than India's.
After beginning their campaign by getting bundled out for just 69 against England in Guwahati, the Laura Wolvaardt-led side won five games in a row to reach the knockout stage, where they avenged their earlier defeat by crushing the English side by 125 runs.
Regardless of the eventual winners, women's ODI cricket is set to crown new champions -- something that hasn't happened in men's ODI World Cup since 1997 -- which could become the starting point of a new era of greater competition.