Women’s World Cup 2025 Qualification Scenario: Can India Still Qualify After Back-to-back Defeats?

In the match against Australia, India vice-captain Smriti Mandhana became the first female player to score 1,000 ODI runs in a calendar year.

Women’s World Cup 2025 Qualification Scenario: Can India Still Qualify After Back-to-back Defeats?

India's chances of making it to the semi-finals of the 2025 Women's World Cup have depleted following two back-to-back defeats. (via NDTV Sports)

🔍 Explore this post with:

ChatGPTPerplexityGrok AIGoogle AI

The Indian side suffered two back-to-back defeats in the ongoing 2025 Women’s ODI World Cup, severely denting the team’s chances of making it to the semi-finals. After four matches played so far, the Indian team is third in the standings with two wins and two losses.

The Women in Blue began their 2025 World Cup campaign with high ambitions, aiming to secure the title for the first time in their cricket history. Expectations are particularly high this year, with the WC being co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka, and the Indian team having recently secured an ODI and T20I series double against England away from home. Their only recent setback was a closely contested 1-2 series loss to Australia.

India first claimed a win over co-hosts Sri Lanka in the World Cup opener by 59 runs in Guwahati. It was followed by a convincing 88 runs victory over arch-rivals Pakistan in Colombo, putting the team in a comfortable position with two wins out of two. However, their campaign hit its first hurdle against South Africa, who successfully chased down a 252-run target.

In the following encounter last night, Australia chased down a record 330-run target against India, as it marked the highest successful run-chase in Women’s ODI history. Indian vice-captain Smriti Mandhana hammered 80 runs off just 66 balls, to take the team to massive first-inning total. However, India’s batting effort was no match to Australia’s, with skipper Alyssa Healy scoring her sixth ODI hundred off just 84 balls to take her team over the line. 

For India to make it to the semi-finals, they must now win all their remaining group-stage matches, against England, New Zealand and Bangladesh. It will place the host side in the top four with 10 points, regardless of the other results.

However, if the Indian team wins two matches but loses one, they would reach eight points, making their qualification dependent on their net run-rate remaining superior to teams like New Zealand and South Africa.

Should India lose two or more of its remaining fixtures, its chances of making the final four would sharply decrease and rely heavily on the outcomes of other games. The road ahead seems a challenging one, with India next facing in-form England, who enjoy a perfect 100 percent win-rate.

Harmanpreet Kaur under fire following India’s record World Cup defeat to Australia

India captain Harmanpreet Kaur has been heavily criticized after the team suffered its second successive 2025 World Cup defeat to Australia in Vizag. The loss has not only put the team’s chances of making it to the knockouts in jeopardy, but has also raised doubts over Kaur’s abilities to lead. 

Harmanpreet Kaur India Women
Harmanpreet Kaur has been criticized following India’s back-to-back defeats in 2025 Women’s World Cup. (via India Today)

The Women in Blue put up a massive first innings total of 330 runs on the board, thanks to an impressive 155-run stand off 147 balls between openers Smriti Mandhana and Pratika Rawal. However, the team failed to capitalize on this start, experiencing a late collapse that saw them tumble from 294/5 in the 43rd over to 330 all out in the 49th over. Australia chased down the total in 49 overs, with three wickets in hand.

Captain Kaur admitted that the team missed out on scoring some extra runs at the end. Her comments did not go down well with fans, who questioned her ability to lead from the front. Fans took to social media to call for a change in leadership, suggesting Mandhana as a replacement, while also pointing to Kaur’s poor numbers in the tournament so far, having scored just 71 runs in four matches. 

Kaur’s bowling strategy has also come under fire, with fans pointing to the need of a sixth bowling option. So far, in most of the matches, India has gone with three front-line spinners and two pacers, while Arundhati Reddy, Radha Yadav and Renuka Singh Thakur have remained out. 

Read More: