The second semi-final of the 2025 Women’s Cricket World Cup will be played today at the DY Patil Sports Academy in Navi Mumbai , where India and Australia will face each other. The winner of this match will face South Africa in the final on November 2 .
The Indian team has received some relief ahead of this crucial match— opener Shafali Verma has returned to the squad. She replaces Pratika Rawal , who was ruled out of the tournament due to an ankle injury . Shafali’s arrival is expected to bolster the Indian batting order.
Team India will be looking to the innings of Smriti Mandhana and captain Harmanpreet Kaur in this match . Mandhana has performed brilliantly so far in the tournament, while Harmanpreet is expected to play a captaincy innings and lead the team to the final.
All-rounder Deepti Sharma can play a crucial role with both bat and ball, while Kranti Gaud ‘s spin bowling could trouble the Australian batsmen.
Meanwhile, the Australian camp is also fully prepared. Their batting is backboneed by Beth Mooney and Ashleigh Gardner , who have shown excellent form in previous matches. In the bowling department, Alana King and Annabel Sutherland could prove challenging for the Indian batsmen.
So far, 60 ODI matches have been played between the women’s teams of the two countries , with Australia winning 49 of them, while India has won 11. This will be the third semi-final between India and Australia in World Cup history —both previous times Australia prevailed, so India will be looking to change history this time.
The DY Patil Stadium pitch is the same as the Navi Mumbai leg of the match between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh . Reports suggest it’s a batsman-friendly pitch , with runs expected to flow. However, a rain warning has been issued in Mumbai— a yellow alert is in effect for Wednesday and Thursday. If weather interferes, the match will be completed on a reserve day .
The high-voltage India-Australia semi-final will begin at 3:00 PM IST. The match will be broadcast live on the Star Sports network , while viewers can watch it live via the JioHotstar app .
