Navi Mumbai, Oct 23 (UNI) It was not just a win. It was a proclamation. Under the floodlights of Dr DY Patil Sports Academy here tonight, India Women announced their arrival among the last four of the ICC Women’s World Cup 2025 — not with caution or calculation, but with fire, flair, and finality.
The rain came and went, the overs shrank to 44, but India’s ambition did not. They set New Zealand 325 under DLS arithmetic, a mountain wrapped in mist, and then scaled it for them, brick by brick, wicket by wicket, until Deepti Sharma bowled the last ball of the night, and Rosemary Mair miscued the slog-sweep into the waiting hands of Smriti Mandhana at long-on.
Forty four overs. That was the timestamp of triumph. The moment India sealed their semifinal berth, the moment the home fans roared as if the sea itself had risen to applaud. Mair’s dismissal for 1 (3) was not merely a statistic; it was a sentence that ended New Zealand’s campaign and began India’s next chapter.
Hours earlier, Mandhana had blazed 109 from 95 deliveries — ten fours, four sixes — strokes that sang, not struck. Pratika Rawal, the unflappable artist at the other end, composed her 122 from 134 balls with a calmness that mocked pressure. Their 212-run partnership wasn’t built on muscle; it was built on understanding, rhythm, and the audacity of belief.
Jemimah Rodrigues arrived like a comet, 76 not out off 55 balls, turning the end overs into a light show.
And then, the bowlers took the stage. Renuka Singh Thakur (2/25) sliced through the top order like a scalpel — Suzie Bates gone, Sophie Devine bowled through the gate, and the air around Navi Mumbai thick with inevitability. Kranti Gaud (2/48) was relentless, Sneh Rana (1/60) probing, Shree Charani (1/58) deceptive, and Pratika, as if batting glory was not enough, plucked a wicket too.
But the heartbeat of the night was Mandhana. Three catches — all of them carrying the weight of destiny. From Amelia Kerr’s dismissal at short midwicket to Jess Kerr’s miscue, and finally, Rosemary Mair’s surrender — every grab was a punctuation mark in India’s story of assertion.
Halliday (81) and Isabella Gaze (65*) resisted like composers who refused to leave the page blank, but India’s bowlers kept writing their own ending.
As the players embraced at the end, fans could almost sense it — the spirit of a team reborn. This was not just qualification. It was redemption after heartbreaks past, vindication of faith, and a reminder that Indian women’s cricket no longer waits for validation. It commands it.
Score Summary:
India Women 340/3 in 49 overs (Smriti Mandhana 109, Pratika Rawal 122, Jemimah Rodrigues 76*);
New Zealand Women 271/8 in 44 overs (Brooke Halliday 81, Isabella Gaze 65*, Renuka Singh 2/25, Kranti Gaud 2/48); Result: India Women won by 53 runs (DLS Method).
