ICC Women’s World Cup 2025 Semifinal: The Indian women’s cricket team has secured its place in the semi-finals of the ICC Women’s ODI World Cup against New Zealand by performing brilliantly in a very exciting and decisive match. In this round robin match played at DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Thursday, host India defeated New Zealand by 53 runs under the Duckworth Lewis (DLS) rule. With this win, India has become the fourth and last team to reach the knockout round.
After losing the toss in the match, the Indian team came to bat first and scored a huge score on the strength of its batsmen. Due to rain, the match was reduced to 49 overs, in which India scored 340 runs losing only 3 wickets. This is the Indian team’s biggest score so far in the World Cup.
The foundation of the Indian innings was laid by the brilliant opening pair of Smriti Mandhana and Pratika Rawal. Together they made a strong partnership of 212 runs for the first wicket. Mandhana played a stormy inning of 109 runs in 95 balls with the help of 10 fours and 4 sixes. This was the 14th century of his ODI career. At the same time, Pratika Rawal contributed by playing a brilliant inning of 122 runs hitting 13 fours and 2 sixes in 134 balls. After both of them were out, Jemimah Rodriguez took over the innings and scored unbeaten 76 runs with the help of 11 fours in just 55 balls, taking the score to 340.
Due to rain, New Zealand got a revised target of 325 runs in 44 overs under the DLS method. New Zealand, which set out to chase such a big target, had a very poor start. The team lost its 3 important wickets for just 59 runs. However, Amelia Kerr (45 runs) tried to handle the innings in the middle order, but the team came under pressure after 5 wickets fell for 154 runs. In the end, Brooke Halliday showed tremendous fight. He played a brilliant inning of 81 runs in 84 balls.
At the same time, wicketkeeper Isabelle Gage also tried her best to ensure victory by scoring unbeaten 65 runs (51 balls), but this effort could not succeed. The New Zealand team could score only 271 runs after losing 8 wickets in the stipulated 44 overs and lost the match by 53 runs.
The Indian bowling attack put up a collective performance and prevented New Zealand from reaching the target. Kranti Gaur and Renuka Thakur broke the back of Kiwi batting by taking 2 wickets each. Apart from this, Sneh Rana, Shri Charani, Deepti Sharma and Pratika Rawal (who also did wonders with the bat) got 1 wicket each.
With this win, New Zealand and Sri Lanka are out of the World Cup. India Apart from this, Australia, England and South Africa also semi-final I have cemented my place. The Indian team is now full of confidence and will enter the knockout stage with full strength to fulfill the dream of winning the World Cup.
