Pratika Rawal’s century played a key role in India’s 53-run victory over New Zealand in Navi Mumbai (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade) Navi in Mumbai: India offered a clinical brand of cricket when it mattered most, beating New Zealand by 53 runs (using the DLS method) to reach the semi-finals of the 2025 Women’s World Cup as the fourth team at the DY Patil Stadium on Thursday night. The prolific opening pair of Smriti Mandhana (109 off 95 balls) and Pratika Rawal (122 off 134 balls) slammed hundreds apiece while Jemimah Rodrigues, back in the playing eleven, continued her run of form by smashing 76 full runs (from 55 balls) as East Indies’ f39 for three, for 3. Zeeland attack.Some unseasonal rain forced a 90-minute break and New Zealand, who made the mistake of opting to bat first in hot and humid conditions, were all out for 325 in 44 overs. Pressured by a huge chase, the White Ferns ended up on 271 for eight with only Brooke Halliday (81 off 84 balls) and Isabella Gaze (65 off 51 balls) offering some fight. To make it a great outing for her, Mandhana took a superb catch at short mid-wicket to send back Amelia Kerr (45).Tournament hosts India will now feature in the second semi-final at the DY Patil Stadium at the same venue on October 30. Their final league game against Bangladesh on Sunday is now an academic interest. New Zealand, the reigning Women’s T20 World Cup champions, had to rue their two match losses in Sri Lanka and a poor show in the crunch match here. A record crowd of 25,166 – the highest in this World Cup – at the venue, India’s top three attracted spectacular fireworks with the bat as the Women in Blue, with qualification at stake, posted the highest score of this World Cup in a batting paradise. Mandhana and Pratika broke several records as they shared an epic opening partnership of 212 off 202 balls – their second double century partnership and seventh century stand in 23 WODIs. It is now the highest opening partnership for India in women’s ODIs and the highest wicket for India in women’s ODI World Cups, surpassing the 184 between Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur against West Indies Women in Hamilton in 2022. The batsmen had added 155 against Australia in Visakhapatnam earlier in the tournament.Mandhana and Rawal have added a staggering 1557 runs as a pair in WODIs in 2025, a figure surpassed only by the pair of Sachin Tendulkar-Sourav Ganguly – 1635 in 1998 – for the highest partnership total in a calendar year in ODIs – male or female. Mandhana and Rawal’s partnership was only ‘established’ in December last year when Rawal made his WODI debut against West Indies in Vadodara. However, the numbers they have already achieved are terrifying and many more are yet to come. This was the fourth 150-plus partnership between Smriti Mandhana and Rawal in WODIs, the highest of any pair, along with Belinda Clark-Lisa Keightley and Suzie Bates-Amy Satterthwaite. When Pritika smashed New Zealand skipper Sophie Devine for four over mid-wicket, the 25-year-old Delhi batsman became the joint fastest to 1,000 WODI runs in women’s ODIs, reaching the milestone in just 23 overs, highlighting what has been a sensational start to her international career so far. With the support of India’s head coach Amol Muzumdar despite criticism against her strike (82.82), the young batsman scored her second WODI century and her first WODI World Cup hundred. Driving, cutting, pulling and swinging the ball with aplomb, Pritika showed that she can unleash big hits as she smashed two sixes after reaching her century. Rawal and Rodrigues, who hit a 39-ball fifty after being dismissed in the previous match to accommodate the sixth bowler, added 76 in just 58 balls for the second wicket as the White Ferns sent the Women-in-Blue on a hunt for leather on the duvet. Rodrigues took a liking to Eden Carson and hit her for three fours in the 46th over.Mandhana reached her 14th WODI century off 88 balls with a single, 10 fours and three sixes in yet another batting masterclass. Now only former Australian captain Meg Lanning (15) has scored more WODI centuries than her. It was the prodigious left-hander’s fifth WODI century this year, only the British (2025) have scored so many centuries in a calendar year.
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With the tremendous form she is in, it is no surprise that Mandhana is the leading run-scorer in this calendar year with 1259 runs so far in 2025. She is also the leading run-scorer in the World Cup (331 runs) with two half-centuries and a hundred. After a slow start to the tournament, Mandhana, who scored 80, 88 and 109 in her last three matches, came into her own at the perfect time for India.She started cautiously – the duo added just 40 in the first 10 overs – Mandhana and Rawal then stepped up, Mandhana cutting, driving and pulling with ease, dominating the sluggish New Zealand bowlers. Two of her four sixes came off the leggy Amelia Kerr.
