India captain Harmanpreet Kaur said her mindset while sharing a match-winning partnership with centurion Jemimah Rodrigues to get five-wicket win over Australia in the 2025 Women’s ODI World Cup semi-final was to stay together for around 30-40 overs and that the game would change in their favour.
Jemimah hit an unbeaten 127 as India chased down a record 339 at the DY Patil Stadium to oust reigning seven-time champions Australia on Thursday. India will now face South Africa in the final at the same venue on Sunday, as both teams attempt to win the trophy for the first time.
“When I went in to bat, Jemi was already there and she was playing at 20-30 runs. She was telling me that if we both stay for at least 30-40 overs, then this match will change. So our mindset was that we were calculating 5-5 overs and batting according to the number of runs needed,” Harmanpreet said in a video on bcci.tv. on Friday.
Jemimah shared a 167-run third-wicket partnership with skipper Harmanpreet, who hit 89, as India completed the chase with nine balls to spare. “Because our target was 5-6 runs per over, we felt that it should come without any risk.
So that was coming without taking any risk. Later when I had to execute and pace up the shots, I started doing that,” she said. India’s epic win over Australia marked a significant emotional milestone for the team, which has endured a rollercoaster campaign and being in jeopardy after three league stage losses.
“It's not a small win; it means a lot to us because we have faced a lot of ups and downs in the World Cup so far. But we have kept ourselves strong in this tournament and believed in ourselves. So I think first of all we should celebrate this and definitely the next game is also very, very important for us, and we will go with the same mindset," she said.
Reflecting on India’s previous semi-final win over Australia in 2017 World Cup in England, Harmanpreet said the team had drawn strength from that experience. “I am feeling very good. Last time when we played against Australia in the semi-finals (in 2017), we had the same mindset that we have to play a fearless cricket.”
“Even here we had the same mindset that we have to be very fearless and very calculative. We exactly did the same thing that we were very calculative and we all played fearless cricket. We have a lot of trust in our batting and bowling department.
“In batting, we made 300 runs in the entire tournament, and we kept making good runs on the tricky pitches. We were there even after the wickets fell and we were able to score some decent runs on the board.
“But there were some matches that were not in our favour. But still, it was the team's self-belief that we still have a chance and we can turn things around, and we did exactly the same thing,” she concluded.