India Women’s top and middle-order batting lineup has proved their strong comeback in today’s matchup against Australia in the 13th match of the Women’s World Cup 2025. India started the innings with the bat after Australia won the toss and elected to bowl.
With questions lingering on their declining performance with the bat, India was successful and set up the tournament’s second-highest score of 330 in 48.5 overs. The 300+ score is the highest ever made by a team against Australia in the Women’s World Cup.
India Women’s dynamic opening duo
The opening batter partnership of Pratika Rawal (75 off 96) and Smriti Mandhana (80 off 66) started off strong, scoring adequate runs in the powerplay. Both the batters who struggled to get many runs in the previous matches have turned the tables this time. Mandhana’s power batting in the three-match WODIs against Australia before the World Cup proved to be an advantage once again. Their partnership added 150 runs in 142 balls to India’s target score.
Other decent contributions came from Harleen Deol (38 runs off 42 balls), captain Harmanpreet Kaur (22 off 17), Jemimah Rodriguez (33 off 21), Richa Ghosh (32 off 22), and Amanjot Kaur (16 off 12). The middle-order batters still struggled to score many runs, unlike the top-order batters.
All-rounders Deepti Sharma and Sneh Rana and bowler Kranti Goud had failed attempts with the bat.
Australia’s bowling brilliance
For Australia Women, the bowlers did a fairly good job getting all the wickets of the Indian batters, but the momentum was found a bit late. Until the 25th over, they got their first wicket of India’s top scorer, Mandhana.
Fast bowler Annabel Sutherland was the highlight of the match, claiming five wickets of openers Rawal, Jemimah, Richa, Kranti, and Shree Charani. For India, the spin bowling by Sophie Molineux was a big threat, and she ended up taking three wickets while giving away 75 runs. All three wickets were crucial, including opener Mandhana, Harleen, and all-rounder Deepti.
With eight wickets already claimed by the two dominant bowlers, the other two were taken by Ashleigh Gardner and Megan Schutt each. Alana King, Thailand McGrath, and Kim Granth failed to add any wickets this time.
With the Indian batters setting up a thrilling target for Australia to beat, it’s up to the bowlers now to restrict them and add a much-needed win after a disappointing loss against South Africa.
· Inputs sourced from [ESPNCricinfo]
