Women's World Cup: Rain clouds hover as India face Australia in semifinal

The hide-and-seek by rain clouds hovering over Navi Mumbai caught everyone’s attention even before the Indian and Australian players arrived for the second semifinal of the ICC Women’s World Cup on Thursday.

Scheduled to start at 3 pm, a spell of light rain since morning has kept the groundsmen busy preparing the pitch for what is being billed as the ‘clash of the tournament.’

The match between the defending champions Australia and the home team India is being treated as a virtual final.

Despite the rain forecast, fans are arriving in good numbers to support the Indian side, which lost three of the four recent face-offs against the Australians within a month.

Both teams bring a rich rivalry: while Australia has the upper hand on paper, India has the potential to turn the tables.

Although the playing XI is yet to be finalised, India is likely to include Shafali Verma, who joined the World Cup phase just three days before this semifinal.

Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh, Deepti Sharma, and Amanjot Kaur carry high expectations for the hosts.

Batting-friendly conditions are expected, but sudden weather changes could give spinners a key role.

On the eve of the match, Australian coach Shelley Nitschke expressed confidence in her bowlers—potentially advantageous for India given their bowlers’ past performances at this venue against New Zealand and Bangladesh.

While the Australian women entered the knock-out stage unbeaten, India faced a rough patch with three consecutive defeats before returning to form.

After playing two matches in Mullanpur and one in the national capital, both teams met in the league stage at Visakhapatnam, where Australia recorded the highest-ever chase against India.

Historically, Australia won the 2022 edition undefeated and had remained unbeaten for eight years, with their last defeat coming against India in the 2017 World Cup semifinal at Derby, when Harmanpreet Kaur scored a historic 171.

Today marks the fifth encounter of the year between India and Australia. The big question: can India once again halt Australia’s winning streak?

Head-to-head snapshot:

Australia dominates with 49 wins in 60 games, India has 11.

In Women’s World Cup matches, Australia leads 11-3.

In knockout encounters, Australia has won 2 of 3 games against India, including the 2005 final, while India has won once.