It was the semi final of the 2025 Women’s World Cup and it was held in Navi Mumbai in front of over 35,000 Fans. It was all Indian support and this was a mountain to climb for the Indian team. The 7 time World Champions were going for their 8th and India had played decent cricket so far in this tournament. It was the fight of their lives and what happened in the next 7-8 hours altered the fabric of Indian women’s cricket.
Let’s talk about the incredible semi final between India vs Australia
The Women In Blue Achieve The Impossible
India won the toss and told Australia to bat first. It proved to be a risky decision. Phoebe Litchfield who was just 21 and playing her first ODI World Cup stepped up for Australia. She made a brilliant 119 runs and she hit her hundred in 77 balls. She smashed 17 fours and 3 sixes at a strike rate of 128. She smashed Deepti Sharma for 2 back to back sixes which were audacious. Ellyse Perry was at the crease doing what she does best as she made a match changing 77 runs from 88 balls. She hit 2 sixes in her innings. Ashleigh Gardener hit a wonderful 63 runs as well. Australia looked set to hit 370 but India led by Deepti Sharma and Shree Charani as India took the last 8 wickets for just 118 runs and that restricted Australia to 338. Chasing 339 in a World Cup Semi final was something that would take a miracle.
India came out to bat and Shafali Verma got out cheaply for 10 runs. Smriti Mandhana followed as she was out for 24 runs. India were 2 wickets for 59 runs and then something extraordinary started happening. Jemimah Rodrigues and Harmanpreet Kaur started to stitch together a partnership for the ages. They had an incredible 167 run stand in 156 balls. This was the highest partnership against the mighty Aussies in a Women’s World Cup. Harmanpreet Kaur smashed 89 runs from 88 balls in which she hit 10 fours and 2 sixes. After she left , Deepti Sharma came out and she made a useful 24 runs. However all the attention was on Jemimah Rodrigues as she was dropped twice by Alyssa Healy and Tahlia McGrath. Luck was on her side and she didn’t even celebrate her hundred. Amanjot Kaur was in the middle when Jemimah Rodrigues played the Innings of her life as she hit 127* from 134 balls. She hit 14 fours. Amanjot Kaur hit the winning runs and Indian Women’s Cricket was changed forever. This Australian team had won their last 16 ICC World Cup Matches. They had a 14-2 record against India in ODIs before this match.
