Captain Harmanpreet Kaur breathed a sigh of relief after India clinched fourth place in the Women’s World Cup semi-finals with a commanding win over New Zealand, but acknowledged the team still needs to toughen up ahead of the knockout stages.
Smriti Mandhana (105) and Pratika Rawal (122) hit brilliant centuries as a resurgent India outclassed New Zealand by 53 runs to reach the semi-finals on Thursday. Under pressure after three consecutive defeats, India regained batting momentum at an ideal time to join reigning champions Australia, England and South Africa in the last four.
Centurions Mandhana and Rawal were ably supported by Jemimah Rodrigues who remained unbeaten on 76 to help India post an impressive 340 for three in 49 overs during a rain-hit encounter. In response, New Zealand were set a revised target of 325 in 44 overs under the DLS method, but could only manage 271 for eight. Brooke Halliday top scored for the visitors with 81 off 84 balls, including nine fours and a six.
FIFA Women’s World Cup: India vs New Zealand Highlights
Reflecting on the win, Harmanpreet praised the likes of Mandhana, Pratika and Jemimah for stepping up with the bat in a high-pressure game.
“It wasn’t easy. Credit to the whole team for the way we fought today. We knew how important this game was. The whole team was fired up and I’m happy with the way we played. We started but we couldn’t always convert them into big scores. Credit to Smriti and Pratik for the way they took charge. When they both put 200 runs on the board, that’s when we decided, that we send the world to Jem. from her,” Harmanpreet said at the post-match handing over ceremony.
Talking about the pressure of playing in the World Cup at home, Harmanpreet said, “Whenever you play at home, everyone expects a lot from you. As a team, we remind ourselves that this is our home and the crowd is always cheering for us. This is the time to enjoy rather than just feel the pressure. I’m really happy with the way we performed. After three defeats, it wasn’t easy for the others, but each one of us stood up. It’s the right time and I’m really glad we could do it.”
Harmanpreet also highlighted the need to improve the bowling unit. “We have been doing really well with the batting, but the bowling is something we need to strengthen. As a bowling unit, hopefully we can come together and perform better in the coming matches,” she added.
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Issued by:
Saurabh Kumar
Published on:
October 24, 2025
