Women’s ODI World Cup | Australia challenge awaits a wounded India

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India’s Pratika Rawal and Jemimah Rodrigues during a grooming  league   up  of the ICC Women’s World Cup 2025 ODI cricket lucifer  betwixt  India and Australia, astatine  the ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, successful  Visakhapatnam, connected  October 11, 2025.

India’s Pratika Rawal and Jemimah Rodrigues during a grooming league up of the ICC Women’s World Cup 2025 ODI cricket lucifer betwixt India and Australia, astatine the ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, successful Visakhapatnam, connected October 11, 2025. | Photo Credit: PTI

After a blitz from Nadine de Klerk stole a triumph from nether India’s feet against South Africa astatine the ACA-VDCA Stadium successful Visakhapatnam a fewer days ago, skipper Harmanpreet Kaur sat quietly, processing the downward spiral.

It was a crippled India’s famed batting line-up should person enactment to furniture earlier the fielding effort began.

But the top-order, similar it did against Sri Lanka (in Guwahati) and Pakistan (in Colombo), combusted meekly. There’s hardly immoderate turnaround time, with defending champion Australia calling present connected Sunday.

Centuries from Ashleigh Gardner and Beth Mooney had saved the top-ranked broadside the blushes against New Zealand and Pakistan, proving the worth of having 11 players who tin bat. That said, skipper and opening bat Alyssa Healy doesn’t deliberation the squad volition prime being blimpish aboriginal on.

“The PowerPlay inactive plays a important relation successful this World Cup. It seems to beryllium passim the mediate overs that immoderate sides person been managing to compression oppositions, but I inactive deliberation if you tin get disconnected to a bully commencement and acceptable a platform, that’s going to beryllium truly important to putting a bully full retired determination oregon chasing thing down. There’s a spot of a good equilibrium successful that regard,” she explained.

India, too, has been propped up by middle-order rescue acts successful each crippled truthful far. Worryingly, its apical 5 averages little (23.13) than SENA teams (South Africa, England, New Zealand, and Australia) — and therein lies the problem.

Australia’s versatile and effectual bowling onslaught mightiness not let a betterment if the apical 5 neglect again. An alarming fig of dot balls (127 balls vs Sri Lanka, 172 vs Pakistan, 184 vs South Africa) is different interest for the Women successful Blue.

It mightiness beryllium worthy revisiting the squad operation up of the important fixture arsenic India operates with lone 5 due bowling options. Harmanpreet came successful arsenic the sixth successful the crippled against South Africa.

Against an Aussie arsenal that’s packed successful some departments, India mightiness privation to bring successful reinforcements.

Published - October 11, 2025 07:03 p.m. IST

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