Weaknesses are few and far between for the most imposing team on the planet, but hosts exposed them all the same
Valkerie Baynes30-Oct-2025
Beth Mooney shakes the hand of Jemimah Rodrigues after her sensational innings•Getty Images
Australia’s Death Star imploded under a nerveless assault by India’s batters, who stood up when it mattered to end their opponents’ World Cup dominance and secure a home World Cup final.Having crushed star sides seemingly at will since their 2022 World Cup triumph – including South Africa, this year’s other finalists whom they bowled out for 97 in a seven-wicket victory in the group phase – Australia’s unbeaten run through this tournament was ended by one performance in particular.Jemimah Rodrigues played the role of Luke Skywalker with the innings of her life to lead India through the highest successful run-chase in women’s ODI history, her unbeaten 127 ensuring a five-wicket win in Navi Mumbai.Harmanpreet Kaur, her Han Solo if you will, contributed 89 to a 167-run stand for the third wicket with Rodrigues. Alongside some crucial strikes by Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh and Amanjot Kaur, who hit the winning runs, they ensured there will be a new World Cup champion on Sunday.Australia were complicit in their own demise.The ball of energy that is Phoebe Litchfield had looked certain to keep their force-field intact with a 93-ball 119 then threw herself about in the field, but Australia uncharacteristically faltered in the crucial moments.”Ultimately we just weren’t sharp enough today, probably in all three facets, to give ourselves the opportunity to win that semi-final,” said Alyssa Healy, Australia’s captain and chief destroyer on many occasions, including as a centurion and the player of the match when her side defeated India earlier in the tournament.”We did pretty well to hang in there. We created a lot of opportunities and let ourselves down in that regard, so I’m probably sitting here disappointed knowing that we did that to ourselves a little bit.”Not taking anything away from the Indian performance, I thought they played really well, but there’s a little bit of an element of, we let ourselves down a little bit. It sort of feels a little bit un-Australian to be not as clinical as what we normally are.”Phoebe Litchfield’s century looked to have done the job for Australia•Getty ImagesHealy had been untidy at times behind the stumps on Thursday, pacing round like a caged animal after the ball pinged off the shoulder of Rodrigues’ bat flush into her thumb when the batter was on 60. The pain was physical but Rodrigues would ensure she hurt Australia deeply too.Rodrigues was on 82 when Healy dropped an absolute dolly of a top-edge, sailing high into the air. It looked as though Healy and bowler Alana King would collide at short midwicket as both ran in under the ball but King stopped in time, leaving Healy to do the rest and she shelled it.It was brilliance, not luck, which finally accounted for Harmanpreet, who miscued a pull off Annabel Sutherland and found Ash Gardner sprinting in from deep midwicket and diving forward to take the ball at full stretch.As the night wore on, the dew clearly made fielding difficult as Australia made more mistakes. When Tahlia McGrath dropped another sitter at mid-off when Rodrigues was on 106 in the 44th over, it felt like the point of no return was near.”Oddly, I think we were still in it with four or five overs to go, probably five overs to go,” Healy said. “Funny things happen in games of cricket when it gets tight like that. If you can put enough pressure on an opposition, things can unfold. So yeah, she [Rodrigues] played really well tonight.”We gave her a couple of opportunities, which didn’t help us, but I thought she played really well. Her mental resilience out there, to get her team over the line was exemplary, so full credit to her.”Credit too, to Litchfield, whose maiden World Cup century was at the core of Australia’s total of 338 – yes, they were bowled out with one ball remaining.All lightning-fast wrists and access-all-areas shot selection, Litchfield had already passed fifty off 45 balls when she shimmied down the pitch and launched N Sree Charani way over wide long-off for six.Next ball, playing her favoured reverse sweep to a low full toss, Litchfield sent Australian hearts into mouths as the ball sailed to short third, where Amanjot collected cleanly, or did she? From Amanjot’s end, yes, it seemed so, and Sue Redfern, the on-field umpire, signalled out, but then third umpire Kim Cotton ruled, rightly, that it was a bump ball, and Litchfield got another life on 62. She made it count.Related
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Before you knew it, Litchfield was dancing down the pitch to Sree Charani once more and going up and over mid-off to bring up her hundred, off just 77 balls. Back-to-back sixes off Deepti followed, the second a logic-defying switch-hit over deep cover.But that trademark innovation resulted in her downfall, a split-step and attempted lap off Amanjot was mistimed and Litchfield ended up steering the ball onto her middle stump.Litchfield shared a 155-run stand with Ellyse Perry after Healy had departed for just 5 but, apart from Perry’s 77 and Gardner’s 45-ball 63, no other Australian batter produced an innings of note.Litchfield put her body on the line time and again in the field too, in a bid to stem the flow of runs from Harmanpreet and Rodrigues.She produced a superb run and flick back just inside the rope to save a boundary as Rodrigues punched through cover point and, although it was bittersweet she later launched herself to her right at cover and was airborne, fully horizontal, as Rodrigues’ powerful drive flicked her fingertips. In so doing, Litchfield turned a certain four into a single.Litchfield wasn’t immune to the slippery ball either though, struggling to pick it up when Rodrigues slipped trying to retreat to her crease with Healy screaming for the throw to come to her, highlighting the pressure Australia were under.But if Litchfield is the future – and she is at just 22 years of age and with 67 caps already – Australia are in good shape to overcome this setback.Bear in mind, they will spend the next seven months with one eye on clearing a similar hurdle in next year’s T20 World Cup in England, having also bowed out of the 2024 edition in the semi-finals by losing to South Africa.”We’re playing some unbelievable cricket and that’s why it doesn’t quite feel right sitting here at the losing end, not getting to Sunday’s fixture,” Healy said. “The opportunity for some of our players to play in a really high-pressure situation like that is going to do wonders for our group.”The same thing happened in 2017, we reflected on that and thought we could have done things a little bit better under pressure, and where we can be better at little certain aspects of our game.”This is just another recognition, I suppose, to our group to say, ‘you know what, we can be better at little moments of the game’, but I guess for our group to experience that, to be put under pressure and see how we respond, is going to do great things for us moving forward.”If Australia’s semi-final defeat to India eight years ago and their title victory in 2022 is anything to go by, while India and South Africa fight for this trophy, a new and improved world-beating machine is already under construction.