Luck wasn’t on the side of the India Women’s team that got them their second consecutive defeat in the ongoing Women’s World Cup 2025. India suffered a three-wicket loss against Australia Women on Sunday, October 12. With the win, Australia has now moved to the top of the table with seven points, while India stays at No. 3 with four points.
In the first innings, India got positive results as the opening partnership of batters Smriti Mandhana and Pratika Rawal scored 150 runs in 142 balls. The middle-order batters took the momentum and continued to bring in runs for the team. The low order, however, failed to pick up runs, and the last six overs cost them where they could have added 30 or 40 runs to their target score of 330.
With India setting up the highest-ever total against Australia in the tournament, the job wasn’t straightforward. But the Australian batters managed to remain on track, setting up their dominance right from the start. Skipper and opening batter Alyssa Healy took the spotlight with her 142-run, 107-ball knock. With her doing the majority of the work, the rest of them continued to add runs in the run chase, including Phoebe Litchfield (40 off 39), Ellyse Perry (47* off 52), and Ashleigh Gardner (45 off 46).
Indian bowlers Kranti Goud and Sneh Rana failed to claim any wickets while giving away major runs. Spin bowlers like Shree Charani (3/41) and Deepti Sharma (2/52) somehow got the team some advantage. Pacer Amanjot Kaur added two wickets in her innings. India’s bowling line-up failed to sustain against Australia’s dominant batting line-up and completed the run chase with one over left.
Alyssa Healy on Australia’s win
The Australian captain believes the big chase was successfully achieved by their team because of the strong start and the contribution that came from the batters.
Alyssa said, “Great result. To chase down 330 in 50-overs game is new territory for us. Hopefully don’t have to do it again. Our top order felt like we needed to contribute more. Knowing that we needed to chase big, getting a quick start was crucial. That we were able to maintain the run-rate was cool.”
Harmanpreet Kaur on India’s missed attempts
India Women skipper Harmanpreet says the batters failed to get runs in the last few overs of the first innings, which cost them their defeat.
She said, “The way we started, we could have added more 30-40 runs. We missed runs in the last six overs and that cost us. Knew it was a good batting wicket, but not batting well in the last six overs cost us.”
She believes the team can make a strong comeback even after two consecutive defeats by working more on themselves.
“Last three games we were not able to bat in the middle overs. Our lower order took responsibility. Today the first 40 overs were good. It is important how we come back, these things happen. Two bad games are not going to make a difference,” she added.
