Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025 results: India beat New Zealand to secure last semi-final spot

This was a must-win zone for both teams, but most of the pressure was on India. Seeking their first Women’s World Cup title, the team entered this tournament as favorites to win the title on home soil, alongside Australia and England.

Comfortable victories over Sri Lanka and Pakistan gave them an ideal start but they then floundered, suffering successive defeats against South Africa, Australia and England, and in all three cases faced the regret of what could have been.

They reduced South Africa to 81-5 chasing 252 before losing to Nadine de Klerk. They failed to defend 330 against Australia and were previously bowled out 36-6 on the back end of their own innings. Against England, they failed to chase 289 despite needing a manageable 62 runs in the last 10 overs – losing by four runs.

But they got back to winning ways with a brutal batting display against New Zealand.

While Mandhana, who is at the top of the order, crossed 50 for the third consecutive innings, Rawal has a hundred left in his half-century against Australia. Both players showed good patience as they weathered the innings of Rosemary Mair and Jess Kerr early in the powerplay and settled for a calm partnership against New Zealand’s toothless attack.

Meanwhile, Rodrigues seized the opportunity after moving up the rankings and scored freely in the field, becoming the seventh India player to pass 50 in the tournament.

In total, India’s batsmen smashed 42 boundaries and scored just under seven in an over.

But New Zealand’s chase did not display the same ruthlessness.

They dropped a few catches, abandoned boundaries with ease and never looked like eliminating New Zealand by bowling them out, despite taking three of the top four in 12 overs.

Although Gaze’s strike came late enough to leave the home team in no danger of losing, India failed to produce a statement performance that would have reaffirmed their status as serious title contenders.