India’s ODI World Cup 2025 redemption story after 3 defeats:Still beat 7x world champions Aussies to secure final berth; Harmanpreet-Jemimah’s historic partnership

October 19, 2025, only 11 days have passed since then, but the brand of cricket for India women’s has completely changed. At that time, after South Africa and Australia, England also defeated India in the Women’s ODI World Cup. Forget about winning the trophy; it was even difficult for the India Women to reach the ODI World Cup semi-finals. A match against 2000 champions New Zealand was still pending, and Team India had completely lost its momentum. From that juncture, today, on October 31, India Women have secured their final berth in a dominating manner. They not only defeated 7-time champions Australia, who were invincible in the tournament until then, but also chased the biggest target in Women’s ODI history. This victory was scripted by India’s captain Harmanpreet Kaur and Jemimah Rodrigues, who remained unbeaten with a century. Rewind of how India W turned their fate around in the ODI WC 2025 Easy win against Sri Lanka, Pakistan India started the ODI World Cup with a match against Sri Lanka in Guwahati. Batting first at the Barsapara Stadium, India scored 269 runs. In response, Sri Lanka was bowled out for just 211. Deepti Sharma, who scored a fifty and took 3 wickets, was named Player of the Match. In the second match, India faced arch-rivals Pakistan. It was a spin-friendly pitch in Colombo, where Pakistani spinners could have benefited. However, India women’s team batters scored 247 runs here and bowled out Pakistan for just 159 runs, winning their second consecutive match. Fast bowler Kranti Goud, who took 3 wickets, was named Player of the Match. South Africa inflicted the first defeat With 2 consecutive wins, Team India reached Visakhapatnam, where they were to face South Africa. The first finalists of WC 2025 had already been all-out for 69 runs against England. While batting first, India lost 6 wickets for 102 runs. From there, wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh scored 94 runs and took the team to 251. Facing a target of 252, South Africa also lost 5 wickets for just 81 runs. Laura Wolvaardt was holding the team together with a fifty; she was out after scoring 70 runs. It seemed India would win now, but Chloe Tryon scored 49 and Nadine de Klerk scored 84 runs to give their team a 3-wicket victory with 7 balls to spare. Australia-England derailed India’s momentum After their first loss in the tournament, India faced 7x champions Australia. In Visakhapatnam, India showed grit and scored 330 runs on the back of fifties from their openers. However, the team was all out with seven balls left. To defeat India, Australia had to achieve their biggest target. Captain Alyssa Healy scored a century for the team. Phoebe Litchfield and Ashleigh Gardner scored 40+ runs to bring the team closer to the target. Ellyse Perry scored 47 runs in the end and secured victory for the team with 6 balls to spare. This was the most successful run chase in ODI history. After 2 consecutive losses, India faced England in Indore. Batting first, England scored 288 runs, with former captain Heather Knight scoring a century. India had scored 250 runs by 45 overs, with 3 players from the team scoring fifties. In the very next over, Richa Ghosh got out, and as soon as she left, the team lost the close match by 4 runs. Also Read| Rain may spoil India’s 2nd T20I vs Australia in Melbourne: Men in Blue gunning for 10th win in a row Smriti-Pratika revived India’s hopes! Having suffered a hat-trick of losses in the home World Cup, India Women were facing the threat of being eliminated from the tournament. The next match was against New Zealand; if India lost, they could have been eliminated. While batting first in Navi Mumbai, Pratika Rawal and Smriti Mandhana slammed centuries for India Women. Powered by Jemimah’s fifty, India made their best World Cup score of 340 runs. New Zealand team crumbled under pressure and could only score 271 runs. Mandhana, who scored a century and took 3 catches, was named Player of the Match. With this win, India also entered the semi-finals. The last group stage match against Bangladesh was inconclusive due to rain. Fiery clash with 7x champions and invincible Aussies India’s semi-final was set against 7-time champions Australia, who had not lost a single match in the tournament. One of Australia’s matches was cancelled, while the team won the remaining 6 matches in a one-sided fashion. The team’s last defeat in the Women’s World Cup was in 2017. Since then, the team has won 15 matches. Australia Dominated Early Facing the pressure of the semi-final in Navi Mumbai, Australia won the toss and chose to bat. In most big matches, Australia’s men’s and women’s teams bat first on flat pitches. The same happened on October 30, last night. Australia lost captain Healy’s wicket in the powerplay itself, but from there, 22-year-old Phoebe Litchfield and experienced Ellyse Perry formed a century partnership. Litchfield scored a century. Finally, Ashleigh Gardner scored a quick 63-run knock and took the team to 338 runs. This was the second-highest score in a World Cup knockout match. India W was chasing biggest ODI total India had to create history to reach the World Cup final. Along with chasing the biggest target in ODI history, the team also had to break the winning streak of 7-time champions Australia. The hosts had put pressure on them in the powerplay itself, with Shafali Verma getting out for 10 and sending Smriti Mandhana to pavilion for just 24 runs. Captain Harmanpreet Kaur, who came in at number 4, however, held her ground with Jemimah Rodrigues. Both maintained a run rate of 6 and completed the team’s century in the 18th over. After scoring a fifty, the captain also hit explosive boundaries and took the team past 200-run mark. Tired, down, and rose again…But Jemimah did not lose! In an attempt to score runs quickly, Harman was out after scoring 89 runs off 88 balls. After her, Deepti Sharma came out to bat while Jemimah was moving towards a century at the other end. In the 33rd over, Alyssa Healy dropped an easy catch of hers; at this time, Jemimah was on a score of 82 runs. One over later, Jemimah also survived an LBW appeal against Alana King. Meanwhile, while avoiding a run-out, she went onto the pitch but was not out. Fatigue was clearly visible in Jemimah’s body language. In the 44th over, Jemimah’s catch was again dropped by Tahlia McGrath at mid-off, while the Indian batter was at 107 runs. Before Jemimah, Deepti Sharma was out after scoring 24 runs off 17 balls, and Richa Ghosh scored 26 runs off 16 balls. Richa certainly brought India close to victory, but 29 runs were still needed off 24 balls. Amanjot Kaur came to bat to support Jemimah. …and then Jemimah broke down in tears Sophie Molineux came to bowl in the 47th over, giving away only 6 runs. Annabel Sutherland bowled the next over; it was difficult to grip the ball due to the dew. 4 runs were scored off the first 2 balls. On the third ball, Jemimah played a scoop shot and hit a four behind the wicketkeeper. Sutherland bowled 2 wides. 14 runs were needed off 15 balls, Jemimah hit another four towards point. 15 runs came from the over, and India needed just 8 runs off 12 balls. On the very first ball against Molineux, Amanjot hit a four towards covers, and 2 runs were scored on the next ball. 2 more runs were needed. Molineux bowled a short-pitched delivery outside off stump next time. However, Amanjot again hit a four towards the covers and gave India a historic victory. As soon as Amanjot’s shot headed towards the boundary, Jemimah, who had already scored a century, ran to Amanjot and hugged her, crying. She folded her hands, looking at the spectators, and her tears kept falling while thanking the audience. After the win, Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur also shed tears in the dugout. She had made a match-winning partnership of 167 runs with Jemimah. India W crushed Australia W’s hopes 8 years ago India achieved the biggest target in ODIs against Australia in 2025, broke their winning streak in the World Cup, and secured a spot in the final. This is not the first time India has eliminated Australia by defeating them in the semi-finals. In 2017, on English soil, India also eliminated Australia with the help of Harmanpreet’s 171 runs. Even then, Australia had not lost in the World Cup. However, in the final, India faced a close 9-run defeat against England. Maiden World Cup champions to be crowned on 2nd November On 2nd November, Team India will play the title match against South Africa, who defeated England in the semi-finals and knocked them out. South Africa also made an excellent comeback in the tournament. In the first match, the team was bowled out for just 69 runs against England and lost by 10 wickets. South Africa defeated that same team by 125 runs in the semi-finals and reached the final for the first time. South Africa has reached the final for the first time, while India has made it to the Women’s ODI World Cup title match for the third time. The team lost the finals to Australia in 2005 and England in 2017. The world will get a new Women’s ODI World Champion at Navi Mumbai’s DY Patil Stadium.