ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025 | Match 13: India vs Australia | Preview and Predictions

It’s a battle of giants in Match 13 of the 2025 ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup, as trophy contenders India and Australia face off in what is sure to be a crackerjack of a contest.

For the game, here are our preview and predictions.

ICC Women’s CWC 2025 | Match 13: IND vs AUS | 15:00, October 12

India’s winning momentum was brought to a shuddering halt in their last game as they surrendered what looked like a seemingly straightforward victory to South Africa, losing by three wickets courtesy of some inspired late power-hitting from Nadine de Klerk.

The defeat has brought to the surface plenty of shortcomings that plague this Indian team despite their two victories against Sri Lanka and Pakistan. For starters, India’s vice-captain — and arguably their best batter — Smriti Mandhana has so far flattered to deceive. With paltry returns of 8, 23, and 23 in her three innings, the 29-year-old looks like a shadow of the batter she has been during a rather dominant 2025.

However, Mandhana’s scratchy form is nothing compared to the horror show put up by India’s middle order so far; in all three matches, it has come a cropper and failed to make the most of the promising starts given by the likes of Pratika Rawal and Harleen Deol. Against Sri Lanka, case in point, India collapsed from 120/2 to 124/6, while against South Africa they slumped from a comfortable 81/1 to 102/6. Jemimah Rodrigues has had a poor start to her maiden ODI World Cup campaign, while captain Harmanpreet Kaur has also looked out of sorts at the crease.

However, a huge silver lining for India’s batting has been the splendid run of form shown by the batters in the lower middle order, who have rescued the team in every game. Amanjot Kaur, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh, and Sneh Rana have popped up with game-changing and match-winning cameos and propelled the side to competitive totals. Ghosh was splendid against the Proteas, while Sharma and Kaur have also notched up fifties.

While India’s bowling has been their better-performing department in this World Cup so far, their bowlers will want to avoid a repeat of what happened in the final overs against South Africa if they are to stand a chance of beating the Aussies.

Speaking of Australia, the defending champions now have the distinction of being one of the two unbeaten sides in this tournament (alongside England), though even the mighty Aussies have had a sizeable chunk of their veneer of invincibility stripped off in the two matches they’ve won.

Australia’s batting has been arguably worse than that of India, and the numbers are right there for all to see. Against New Zealand, it took an all-time knock of 115 from all-rounder Ashleigh Gardner to take them to 300+ after they were teetering at 124/5. And if anyone thought that the batting wobble against the Kiwis was an aberration, their performance against Pakistan must have left everyone in the Aussie camp shutting their eyes in pure disgust.

Against the Women in Green, Australia were almost down and out, having been reduced to 76/7 and almost certain to be bundled out for an under-par score, only to be rescued by a peerless performance from Beth Mooney this time, who along with Alana King steered them to a total that proved to be more than enough to win the game. Against an Indian bowling attack that is miles better than what New Zealand and Pakistan boast, the defending champions may not want to make the same mistakes again.

With both teams entering this game while not being at their best and struggling for fluency in their batting departments, this is shaping up to be a contest that will virtually be decided by the bowlers.

While both teams match each other band for band, Australia’s big-match experience, coupled with their chokehold over India in ICC tournaments, means it’s hard to look past them as the favourites over the hosts to win this game.

Fantasy XI: Alyssa Healy (c & wk), Pratika Rawal, Smriti Mandhana, Ellyse Perry, Beth Mooney, Deepti Sharma, Ashleigh Gardner, Richa Ghosh, Annabel Sutherland, Kranti Gaud, Alana King

Venue: Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam
Winners Prediction: Australia