Smriti Mandhana shines as India clinch Women's ODI World Cup semi-final berth

The Indian women's cricket finally powered back to life after a string of three straight losses as they defeated New Zealand by 53 runs to seal a semifinal berth in the ICC Women's ODI World Cup 2025.

Winning the toss, New Zealand opted to bowl first. The two Indian openers, Smriti Mandhana (109) and Pratika Rawal (122) were watchful at the start with the seamers getting some movement, but it was only a matter of time before the duo got into their groove. Mandhana got to her half-century off 49 balls and Rawal followed suit a few overs later as New Zealand found themselves under early pressure.

Both the Indian openers barely found any difficulty in rotating strike and also peppered the boundaries with ease, as Mandhana soon brought up her first century of this World Cup, also her fifth ODI century in 2025, the joint-most for a women's cricket batter.

Despite Smriti's dismissal a few overs later after a record 212-run opening partnership, an incoming Jemimah Rodrigues further compounded New Zealand's woes with an array of boundaries. Pratika too racked up her first World Cup ton as the White Ferns had no answers to India's batting onslaught.

Jemimah and Pratika continued to collect boundaries with ease, and when Amelia Kerr dismissed the latter, it was all too late as the opener had done enough damage and India were in prime position for a massive finish with the score on 288/2 in 43 overs. An incoming Harmanpreet Kaur was happy to play second fiddle to Jemimah as the latter smashed an unbeaten 55-ball 76, with India totting up their highest World Cup score of 340/3 in 49 overs after rain played hide and seek to take an over out of the hosts' tally.

After the Rain Gods decided to intervene again, the revised target for New Zealand was set to 325 from 44 overs. India needed a win and Kranti Gaud echoed India’s hard-hitting urge to dominate from the word go. She produced the crucial wicket of Suzie Bates (1) in no time. However, India did have to face challenges as Georgia Plimmer (30) and Amelia Kerr (45) put up a strong show for the second wicket.

Adding 50 runs for the second wicket stand, Plimmer was left stunned with a mercurial in-ducker from Renuka Singh that kissed her timber away. Sophie Devine couldn’t conjure anything special as Renuka struck again, removing her for just six. Wobbling at 59/3, New Zealand desperately needed some resistance and it came from Brooke Halliday.

Halliday (81) was the shining light in an otherwise murky sky for New Zealand. Kerr’s resistance gave in to Sneh Rana and Rawal chimed in with a crucial scalp when she got the better of Maddy Green (18). India were all over the White Ferns, shoehorning them into a tight corner that saw them wobble at 154/5.

Much to India’s despair, Izzy Gaze joined the parade of defiance alongside Halliday and the two started knitting together a crucial partnership. Sadly for the White Ferns, the scoring rate didn’t really shoot through the skies and the Indian bowlers held onto their nerves to carve a phenomenal 53-run win.

Smriti Mandhana won the Player of the Match award for her sensational century at the top of the innings.