Australia Women’s captain Alyssa Healy praised India’s Jemimah Rodrigues’ mental toughness after her brilliant unbeaten 127 with 14 fours helped the hosts defeat Australia in the second semi-final of the ongoing ICC Women’s World Cup 2025 on October 30.

Phoebe Litchfield’s 119 and half centuries by Ellyse Perry and Ashleigh Gardner had helped Australia post 338 runs after winning the toss and choosing to bat. India had to break the world record for the highest chase in a Women’s ODI to win the game, and they had never chased over 200 in World Cups.

However, despite losing the openers Shafali Verma (10) and Smriti Mandhana (24) early, Jemimah Rodrigues (127*) and Harmanpreet Kaur (89) added 167 runs for the third wicket to keep India in the game. Cameos by Deepti Sharma and Richa Ghosh took India past the finish line and into the final of the Women’s World Cup.

Healy, speaking at the post-match press conference, said Australia rued not taking the chances they created and holding onto the catches. Healy herself dropped a sitter of Rodrigues, while Tahlia McGrath dropped her catch as well.

“We thought we still had a pretty big job to do with the ball, and ultimately I just think we dished up a little bit too much junk to hit at times (while bowling) and also probably just didn’t capitalize on the opportunities that we did create. So, yeah, disappointing. It feels a little bit un-Australian not to be as clinical as we normally are. Knowing how well we’ve played this World Cup feels a little bit disappointing sitting here,” Healy said in the post-match press conference.

“(Dropped catches) definitely changed the course of the match. Was it semi-final pressure? Maybe. Was it just concentration? Was it anything? I’m not sure—we could put that down to whatever. But like I said, on a pretty decent wicket that seemed to be getting better and better to bat on as the night went on, to create those opportunities that we did and not capitalize, I think was disappointing,” she added.

But Healy was also full of praise for Rodrigues’ mental resilience to take India past the finish line.

“I think we were still in it with four or five overs to go. Probably five overs to go. I think we were still in it. Funny things happen in games of cricket when it gets tight like that. If you can put enough pressure on the opposition, things can unfold. So, yeah, she played really well tonight. Obviously, like I said, we gave her a couple of opportunities, which didn’t help us, but I thought she played really well. I think her resilience—I think her mental resilience out there to get her team over the line—was exemplary. So full credit to her,” Healy praised Jemimah Rodrigues.

Healy also spoke about the 167-run partnership between Jemimah and Harmanpreet, saying that those were just two high-quality players who were allowed to form a partnership and take the game away.

“They’re two high-quality cricketers and have been for a long period of time for India, and we knew that it’s a good wicket and good batting conditions, and we probably just allowed them into the game a little bit by not sticking to our strengths with the ball for long enough. So that was probably the most frustrating part about it. It wasn’t so much that it’s them out there doing their thing, because we’re used to seeing that, and we’re used to problem-solving and working it out on the field ourselves to take that wicket and break that partnership.

So, kudos to them. I thought they played really well, and Harman seems to step up in those big moments when India needs her. So, she’s going to have to do it all again on Sunday to get them over the line,” Healy signed off.

(ANI/PTI inputs)