Australia defeated India by three wickets in a run chase led by Alyssa Healy’s century and remained unbeaten in the ICC Women’s World Cup 2025 with a six from Ellyse Perry.
Facing a record run-chase target of 331, the Australian captain played against the Indian bowlers from the beginning to lay the perfect foundation for his team and the injured Perry returned to bat to complete the task against the hosts against the hosts at the YS Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam on Sunday.
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Healy, who opened the innings alongside Phoebe Litchfield, played an attacking role, hitting three sixes and 21 fours in an epic innings of 142 innings and 107 pitches.
Litchfield and the captain put up a partnership of 85, but the left-handed batsman was dismissed by slow left-arm bowler Shree Chalani for 40 off 39 balls in 12 overs.
Still, Healy pressed on and forged a new partnership with experienced all-rounder Elise Perry. The pair took Australia to 154 in 25 overs, but Perry retired with an undisclosed injury.
India jumped at the chance, dismissing the in-form Beth Mooney for 4 and then Annabelle Sutherland for 0 in consecutive overs with spin bowling from Deepti Sharma and Chalani.
The fall of wickets did little to slow Healy’s pace, finding gaps with little trouble and ensuring Australia maintained the required run rate, causing some problems for Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur.
She bowled 84 balls in 31 overs to reach her hundred and added 56 runs before suffering a soft dismissal due to Chalani’s bowling. She sliced the ball to point where it was caught by a diving Sune Rana, requiring a double check by the television umpire.
However, Australia appeared to be in control of the run chase even after Healy’s dismissal, but India got back into the match with three early wickets in the next six overs.
With Australia seven wickets down, Perry walked back onto the field despite being hampered.
The veteran all-rounder worked alongside Kim Garth to keep the target within reach, finishing with six goals that went over the heads of his trademark bowlers to seal the win and ensure the seven-time champions remained unbeaten in the tournament.
Unsurprisingly, Healy was named player of the match and was credited with helping the team chase a record total.
“Chasing 330 in a 50-over match is new territory for us,” she said in her post-match comments. “I hope I never have to do that again.”
Kaul blames poor batting at the end of the innings.
India have suffered two consecutive losses in the last three days and captain Kaul has given himself some time to think, insisting that the reason for the loss was India’s poor batting in the last few overs.
“We knew it was a good batting wicket, but not batting well in the last six overs took its toll,” she said after the match.
“The opening game was great, but in the last three games I haven’t been able to bat in the middle overs.”
The result saw the defending champions return to the top of the points table with seven points from four matches, while India remained in third place despite losing the second match of the tournament.
England are second with six points, while South Africa are fourth with four points.
The top four teams in the eight-nation tournament will advance to the semi-finals.
Mandana breaks yet another record
Earlier, India’s star batsman Mandhana erased a low-scoring start to the tournament by hitting 80 hits from 66 balls for 155 runs in the first innings with Pratika Rawal contributing 75 off 96 balls.
Mandhana had not gone beyond 23 balls in his previous three World Cup innings, but he broke the shackles by hitting three sixes and nine fours in a dominant innings. In the process, she became the fastest player to reach 5,000 runs in women’s ODIs, achieving the feat in 112 innings.
It was an attempt to slog, but it was her undoing as she got caught deep in the bowling of left-arm spin bowler Sophie Molyneux in the 25th over.
Despite losing their vice-captain, India continued to score quickly with Harleen Deol joining Rawal and picking up the big shots where Mandhana left off.
However, Rawal was dismissed by Sutherland in the 31st over for another big shot attempt and was dismissed at fine leg. Captain Harmanpreet Kaur, also looking for a run in the tournament, immediately attacked the bowling but was soon dismissed by Megan Schutt for 22.
The rest of India’s mid-order and below-middle teams continued to improve their scoring rate with Jemima Rodriguez (33 points), Richa Ghosh (32 points) and Amanjot Kaur (16 points) helping India cross the 300-run mark.
Sutherland did his damage late on, smashing the hosts for 330 in 48.5 overs and finishing with a five-wicket haul.
Molineux finished its return with a record of 3 wins and 75 losses.
Australia play Bangladesh at the same venue on Thursday, while India resume play after a week-long break when they host England in Indore on Sunday.
