Wounded India face peerless Australia in battle of favourites as contest expected to kick the world cup into gear.
Epic contest awaits as wounded India come up against mighty Australia.
Low totals and batting collapses on slow pitches, dropped catches, dubious umpiring calls, and largely one-sided gamesIndia vs. Australia is the match that the Women’s ODI World Cup 2025 needed to liven it up and create a spectacular spectacle. Earlier this year, Australia won all seven of their games in all forms, sweeping the Women’s Ashes. India has defeated Pakistan in all 12 of their ODI matches. Consequently, India and Australia’s face-off has the potential to become an epic on the largest platform.
The ACA-VDCA Stadium’s nearly 26,000 capacity is expected to surpass the record for the highest attendance at an ICC women’s T20I or ODI World Cup league match, currently held by the ACA Stadium in Guwahati, which had a crowd of 22,843 in the opening game of this World Cup. All 15,087 tickets have been sold out for the India vs. Australia match, which is obviously scheduled for a Sunday.
India has a lot on the line as the competition approaches its halfway point. India lost two points after their five bowling options and the batting-friendly circumstances failed to stop South Africa and Nadine de Klerk, even though both teams have staggered to Visakhapatnam after losing all of their games.
With 12 dismissals in three innings, India’s top five bowlers—particularly the senior trio of Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur, and Jemimah Rodrigues—have yet to produce, their fielding hasn’t been at its best, and their hitters have been losing more wickets to left-arm spinners than any other team in the tournament.
Aside from the washout versus Sri Lanka, Australia also faltered in their two matches, but their centuries from Ashleigh Gardner and Beth Mooney showed us their depth and quality. They finished at 128 for 5 and 76 for 7.
They were bowled out for 190 in the second game of their recent bilateral series against India, but the high-scoring final also showed how opposition teams may generate opportunities against the world champions.
In recent years, India has also come very close to defeating Australia in a number of high-stakes Twenty20 matches, including the 2022 Commonwealth Games final, the 2023 T20 World Cup semifinal, and the T20 World Cup league match last year. However, India needs to put on a consistent, elite performance, something they haven’t yet achieved, in order to defeat Australia in ODIs.