3 Big Reasons Why India Can Defeat Australia in the Women’s World Cup 2025 Semifinal

Team India and Australia will face each other in the ICC Women’s World Cup 2025 semifinal in Navi Mumbai on Thursday, October 30. The match promises to be a true David vs Goliath battle between two teams with very different World Cup histories.

India’s Struggles and Australia’s Dominance

The Women in Blue have struggled at times under the pressure of playing in front of home fans. Harmanpreet Kaur’s side won only three of their six completed matches in the league stage, just managing to reach the semifinal. On the other hand, Australia have been in top form, winning all six of their matches to finish first on the points table.

What makes it tougher for India is that Australia usually play their best cricket in knockout matches. The seven-time world champions also defeated India in their group-stage meeting at Visakhapatnam.

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Still, despite the odds, Team India has reasons to believe they can upset Australia and move one step closer to their first-ever World Cup title. With that in mind, here are three key reasons why India could beat Australia in the 2025 Women’s World Cup semifinal.

3 Reasons Why India Can Beat Australia in the Women’s World Cup 2025 Semifinal

1. India Has Dominated Long Phases in Recent ODIs Against Australia

Even though Australia has a stronger overall record, India can take confidence from their recent ODI meetings. The Women in Blue ended Australia’s eight-match winning streak in the home series before the World Cup.

While Australia won three of the last four ODIs, India controlled long parts of those matches. In the first ODI, India scored an impressive 281/7 but lost due to poor bowling and fielding. In the second ODI, they bounced back strongly, scoring 292 and bowling out Australia for 190 to win by 102 runs.

The final match was another close battle, with Australia posting 412 and India replying with 369. Even in their World Cup league match, India scored 330 runs, but Australia chased it down in the 49th over with three wickets remaining.

With one win and two close losses in their last three meetings, India can believe they have what it takes to challenge and defeat the mighty Aussies in the semifinal.

2. History Could Repeat Itself

India has often struggled against Australia in big matches, but history shows they can pull off upsets. The last time these two teams met in an ODI World Cup semifinal, India defeated Australia in a memorable game at Derby.

In that 2017 semifinal, Harmanpreet Kaur smashed an iconic 171 off 115 balls to guide India to 281/4 in a rain-shortened match. The Indian bowlers then bowled out Australia for 245 to reach the final.

Now, eight years later, the situation is similar. Harmanpreet is once again leading India, and the team will hope history repeats itself on home soil.

3. The DY Patil Stadium Could Favour India

The semifinal venue, DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai, might just give India an edge. Unlike the high-scoring pitches where Australia usually dominates, this surface has supported bowlers—especially spinners.

In the three matches played here so far, totals have been low and spinners have done well. India’s spinners, like Shree Charani and Radha Yadav, have already performed brilliantly at this venue, sharing five wickets for just 53 runs in a match against Bangladesh.

If the pitch again helps spin, India’s strong batting and quality spinners could trouble Australia and give the hosts their best chance to make it to the final.