Women’s ODI World Cup 2025: India faces New Zealand in virtual quarterfinal as knockouts race intensifies

It won’t be an exaggeration to call the D.Y. Patil Stadium a cherished hub for India’s women’s cricket team. Over the years, whenever the Women in Blue played here, the fans turned up in huge numbers, rain or shine.

Things will be no different on Thursday when India faces New Zealand in what would effectively be a virtual quarterfinal of the Womens’ ODI World Cup 2025. Despite the festive fervour and forecasts of unseasonal rain, the tickets have been sold out, and India, which suffered three successive losses, would be hoping to find its mojo and inch closer to sealing a semifinal berth.

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Even though India has played eight T20Is at the venue since 2022 and won three, it is yet to feature in an ODI here. However, having played enough cricket here, the team understands that the red-soil surface would offer some runs, and thus, the onus will be on the batters to make most of the opportunities.

Despite being a tournament favourite and the host, things have been far from perfect for the Indian team as it has struggled to win the key moments. After falling agonisingly short of chasing down England’s total in the last match in Indore, questions have been raised whether the team has the firepower to reach the knockouts.

And, it is now that the senior batters – Smriti Mandhana, captain Harmanpreet Kaur and Jemimah Rodrigues – need to step up. The captain has so far scored 141 runs in five games, whereas Smriti scored eighty-plus runs in the last games after a string of low scores. On conditions familiar to her, the team management is likely to bring back Jemimah into the side after leaving her out in Indore to accommodate an extra bowling option.

So far, none of India’s top batters have been able to finish games, leaving the team heavily reliant on Richa Ghosh, and that’s something that the team needs to address in a must-win match.

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On occasions when Smriti fell early, India’s strike rate dipped significantly with Pratika Rawal and Harleen Deol around. But head coach Amol Muzumdar wasn’t willing to dwell over it. He, however, admitted that the team has had ‘some honest discussions’, and also revealed that the players have acknowledged the fact that they could not convert the fifties into hundreds.

New Zealand, on the other hand, comes on the back of a frustrating rain-marred campaign in Colombo, and it would be banking on the seasoned Sophie Devine and Suzie Bates to put up a spirited show. Devine, the White Ferns captain, has been the fulcrum of New Zealand batting, amassing 260 runs in three innings, and in a do-or-die situation, she needs to lead from the front.

Even though it could be a high-scoring affair, the team bowling second could be put to test once the dew sets in. But India needs to cut out the noise, handle nerves and as the theme of the tournament suggests, show the ‘will to win’. 

Published on Oct 22, 2025