India Storm into Semi-Finals with Dominant 54-Run Win over New Zealand

India scored a big 54-run win over New Zealand in Navi Mumbai to reach the semi-finals. The batters gave India a strong start, and Renuka Singh Thakur’s two early wickets with the new ball crushed New Zealand’s hopes.

Chasing 325 runs in 44 overs, the White Ferns needed a strong start but Kranti Goud removed the experienced Suzie Bates in the 2nd over itself. Georgia Plimmer looked to take the attack to India and she unfurled some brilliant shots until the youngster dragged on a full delivery from Renuka in the 10th over. Renuka wasn’t done yet castled the White Ferns’ skipper, Sophie Devine with a typical in-swinger.

At 59/3, the White Ferns were down and out when Amelia Kerr and Brooke Halliday came together to build a partnership. Amelia, in particular, was very proactive as she constantly came down the track to tackle the spinners. Harmanpreet Kaur also had a headache as none of her spinners provided control. It was only in the 21st over that Sneh Rana broke the 56-run partnership with Amelia finding Smriti Mandhana at short mid-wicket with her attempted slog-sweep.

With a loss being unlikely, Harmanpreet also used her freedom to bring Pratika Rawal into the attack. The part-time spinner added up on her century by dismissing Maddy Green who miscued an attempted big shot to mid-off where Kranti Goud took the catch. Thereafter, India were going through the motions while Halliday grew from strength to strength with Izzy Gaze providing her company. The duo exhibited a variety of sweeps with the reverse-sweep standing out in particular as the Indian spinners seemed short of ideas to control them.

India cruise into semi-finals with a 54-run win over New Zealand

Just as Halliday looked good for a century, she holed out to long-on after making 81 off 84 balls with Sneh Rana taking the catch off Shree Charani’s bowling. The entertainment didn't stop there with Izzy Gaze riding her luck before she got to her first-ever ODI fifty off 39 balls. Jess Kerr also came up with a few eye-catchy strokes as New Zealand went down with a fight. In the fag end of the match, Kranti got rid of Jess while Deepti Sharma dismissed Rosemary Mair off the very last ball of the match to add some icing on the cake.

Earlier in the day, New Zealand won the toss and asked India to bat first. However, the move didn't go to plan as the hosts rode on the back of a massive opening partnership from Smriti Mandhana and Pratika Rawal. Smriti continued her brilliant 2025 by registering her first century of this tournament while it took 34 overs for New Zealand to get a wicket. It was substitute Hannah Rowe who plucked out a stunner off Suzie Bates' bowling to send back Smriti for 109 off 95 balls.

A few overs later, Pratika also got to the triple-figure mark and she soon started to switch gears after that. Meanwhile, India's decision to promote Jemimah Rodrigues to No.3 was also justified as the Mumbai batter played some scintillating strokes to complement Pratika. Pratika was dismissed for 122 while Jemimah got to her fifty off 38 balls in the 45th over. India looked set for 350 at one point but rain meant that play was halted with two overs left in the innings. After more than an hour's delay, India came back to play one over as they ended up with 340/3. There was another rain break which meant that New Zealand's innings was further reduced to 44 overs with a target of 325 according to the DLS method.

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