India stun Australia with record run chase to reach Women's Cricket World Cup 2025 final

Australian captain Alyssa Healy, returning to the playing XI after two matches on the sidelines due to injury, called it right at the coin toss and elected to bat first.

Healy, whose century had helped Australia chase down a record score against India earlier in the tournament, also got an early let-off after opposition captain Harmanpreet Kaur dropped her in the third over off Renuka Singh’s bowling.

Fortunately, the drop didn’t cost India and Harmanpreet too dearly as the Aussie skipper edged a Kranti Gaud delivery onto her stumps in the sixth over and departed after contributing just five runs to the score.

Renuka celebrated Ellyse Perry’s wicket in the very next over after the umpire’s finger went up to an LBW appeal, but it was cut short after DRS overturned the decision in the Australian women’s cricket team’s favour.

Phoebe Litchfield, with Perry for company, rebuilt the innings before both started to take the attack to the Indian bowlers.

Litchfield was also given a second lease of life by DRS and made full use of it to score her third ODI and first World Cup century.

The partnership, worth 155 runs, was finally broken by Amanjot Kaur after Litchfield misjudged the bounce of her straight delivery while trying a scoop and got bowled. However, the Aussie, 22 years and 195 days old, walked back as the youngest centurion in Women’s ODI World Cup history.

Perry completed her half-century but Shree Charani dismissed Beth Mooney and Annabel Sutherland in quick succession to bring the hosts back into the game. Radha Yadav then crashed Perry’s stumps and Tahlia McGrath was run out as Australia went from 180/2 to 265/6.

However, Ashleigh Gardner’s late cameo (63 off 45 balls) saw the seven-time champions reach a total of 338/10 in 49.5 overs. Shree Charani and Deepti Sharma picked up two wickets each for India.

India’s chase didn’t get off to the best of starts as Shafali Verma, drafted in the squad to replace the injured Pratika Rawal, was trapped LBW by Kim Garth after getting a couple of hits in.

Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues tried to steady the ship and took India past fifty before the former was caught behind for 24. Once again, it was a DRS call with Healy appealing what was originally signalled as wide.

Having lost both openers early, India needed a noteworthy partnership to flourish to stay in contention. Jemimah and skipper Harmanpreet Kaur answered the call with mature knocks.

Both players kept the scoreboard ticking and punished loose deliveries whenever possible. The duo showcased a masterclass in partnership building and took India past 100 and then 200.

Harmanpreet also stepped up the scoring rate after reaching her half-century and produced some massive hits.

Meanwhile, Jemimah was handed a lifeline after Healy dropped her off Alana King’s bowling when the Indian opener was batting on 83.

The 167-run partnership - the highest against Australia in Women’s World Cups - was finally broken in the 36th over after Harmanpreet was caught by Gardner while trying to go after Sutherland. The Indian skipper scored 89 off 88 deliveries.

Deepti Sharma was run out just as she was looking set on 24 but Jemimah battled on at the other end and reached her third ton in the 50-over format in 115 balls.

Shortly after, McGrath dropped an easy catch to hand the Indian centurion a second life in the match.

Jemimah held up one end while Richa Ghosh (26 runs off 16 balls) and Amanjot Kaur (15 not out off 8) saw off a memorable win under the floodlights at the DY Patil Stadium.

This was only India’s 12th win over Australia in the format in 61 matches. Also, the last time Australia lost a match in the Women’s ODI World Cup was also against India in the 2017 semis.

India will face South Africa in the Women's Cricket World Cup 2025 final on Sunday.

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