Navi Mumbai, Oct 22: For the last six months, the talk has all been about the ICC Women's ODI World Cup 2025 being the perfect opportunity for the Indian team to end the jinx of losing in the finals and go all the way. With home conditions and local support, Harmanpreet Kaur's team was in top form going into the event and among the favourites to win the title.

India started well by easily winning their first two matches against Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Disaster struck after that and resulted in a string of three back-to-back losses to South Africa, Australia, and England -- leaving them fighting for survival in the tournament.

With a spot in the semifinal on line, India takes on New Zealand in a must-win match at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Thursday. Victory will virtually assure them a place in the last four alongside Australia, England, and South Africa.

Tied with the White Ferns and Sri Lanka on four points, but ahead of their opponents on net run rate, victory over New Zealand will take Harmanpreet Kaur's team to six points and winning their last league match against Bangladesh at the same venue on Sunday (October 26) will propel them to eight points and seal their berth in the semifinals, as New Zealand can then best reach six points by defeating the already qualified England.

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Defeat to the White Ferns on Thursday will not end India's hopes as they can still qualify by beating Bangladesh in their last league match and hope that England gets the better of New Zealand in the final league match of the competition.

With the total number of wins in the league phase being the first tiebreaker in case of teams finishing on the same number of points, followed by Net Run Rate (NRR) and win in league phase clash, India are better on NRR and have good chances on other tie-break points too.

India would own the tie-break over New Zealand - and potentially Sri Lanka - with a win over the White Ferns and a loss to Bangladesh. If India loses to New Zealand and then defeat Bangladesh, they will be relying on England defeating the White Ferns on the final day of the league stage to sneak into the final four.

Against New Zealand, the Indians will be hoping that their top order fires and one of them stays put to score a big one. They will also hope that the middle and lower orders come up with another consistent performance in case the top order fails again.

The Indian batters have been quite inconsistent, and the bowlers have not been any better. They failed to defend totals against South Africa and Australia despite sending back half their sides, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

Against England at the Holkar Stadium on October 19, the Indians were in a strong position in their chase of 289 with Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur at the crease but eventually slumped to a narrow four-run defeat.

Though openers Smriti Mandhana and Pratika Rawal are in the top 10 in the top-scorers' list, they have not fired together except for a short period in the match against Australia in Vizag.

Amanjot Kaur, Richa Ghosh, and Sneh Rana have played occasional cameos. On the bowling front, Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, and N Shree Charani have done well, with Deepti leading the list of most successful bowlers with 13 wickets in five matches, but on a few occasions, the Indians have looked a bowler short as there has been no one covering for another bowler having a bad day.

Against New Zealand on Thursday, India will have to pick the right combination and then hope that their star players perform in unison.

For New Zealand to cruise into the semifinals, they will have to defeat both India and England. This will take them to eight points and seal the fourth spot. If they lost to India, they would have to beat England and depend on Bangladesh to hand the hosts a big defeat when they meet at the DY Patil Stadium on Sunday.

However, the weather could have a final say on Thursday with rain predicted for the day. Rain is expected late in the evening and may have a bearing on the result. Another no result will help India as they will then have the easier task of beating Bangladesh in their last league match, as compared to New Zealand, who face England.

The White Ferns had started the ICC ODI World Cup with twin defeats -- to archrivals Australia in the opener and then to South Africa at the Holkar Stadium in Indore, but were they landed in this situation because of bad luck? Their progress after the 100-run win over Bangladesh at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati, was hampered by inclement weather as both their matches against co-hosts Sri Lanka and Pakistan at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo were abandoned because of rain.

New Zealand skipper Sophie Devine has scored 260 runs in three matches so far at an average of 86.66 with a highest score of 112. New Zealand will be hoping for a big one from her.

Medium pacers Lea Tahuhu (9 wickets) and Jess Kerr (8) are their most successful bowlers so far and will carry the burden of restricting the Indian batters on Thursday. Things look difficult, but the White Ferns are known to punch above their weight in big events, as New Zealand is the only country besides England and Australia to win the Women's ODI World Cup.

New Zealand also hold an edge in head-to-head series with India, winning 34 matches while India won 22 of the 57 ODIs the two teams have figured in, with one game ending in a tie.

The DY Patil Stadium pitch did not offer much help to the bowlers in the previous match between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, but slower bowlers can do well, as Chamari Athapaththu did against Bangladesh on Tuesday night. India will hope to exploit the slowness of the pitch thanks to their superior resources. It will also come down to which team's batting unit does well on the day.

Squads:

India: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana, Pratika Rawal, Harleen Deol, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh, Yastika Bhatia, Renuka Singh Thakur, Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Kranti Goud, Shree Charani, Radha Yadav, Amanjot Kaur, and Arundhati Reddy.

New Zealand: Maddy Green, Georgia Plimmer, Izzy Gaze, Polly Inglis, Bella James, Sophie Devine (c), Suzie Bates, Brooke Halliday, Amelia Kerr, Eden Carson, Bree Illing, Jess Kerr, Rosemary Mair, Hannah Rowe, and Lea Tahuhu.

(IANS)

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