India left to rue 6-36 collapse after Australia chase down record score

Defending Women’s World Cup champions Australia emphatically punctuated why they are the favourites for another global title after acing the highest run chase in women’s ODI history over tournament co-hosts India in Visakhapatnam on Sunday.

Chasing a record target of 331, Australia won with an over to spare thanks to a superb century from captain Alyssa Healy whose 142 off 137 deliveries – her sixth in ODIs, and first since 2022 – set the base for Ellyse Perry to finish a three-wicket win with 47 not out. 

This puts Australia back on top of the World Cup points table. 

India were at one stage set to cross 350 after an opening stand worth 155 inside 25 overs between Smriti Mandhana and Pratika Rawal, but Australia reeled them in for 330 in 48.5 overs thanks largely to Annabel Sutherland’s 5/40 on her 24th birthday.

Well placed having crossed 300 in the 44th over with five wickets in hand, then India lost 6/36 in 35 balls as the innings gave way, but Australia were still required to pull off the biggest chase in the history of women’s ODIs. 

Healy led the way, getting to fifty in 25 balls – while adding 85 for the opening wicket with Phoebe Litchfield (40 from 39). Shree Charani, India’s best bowler with 3/41, snapped the opening stand in the 12th over but Healy found support from Perry who got to 32 from 40 balls before leg cramps forced her off the field. 

The wickets of Beth Mooney (4) and Sutherland (0) gave India further hope, but Healy was terrific as she raised her hundred off 85 balls and then smacked 42 from her next 21 faced. This brought the asking to a run-a-ball, so that even when Healy was out in the 39th over, the equation was manageable for those to follow. 

Ashleigh Gardner added a vital 45 off 46 balls, but the loss of Tahlia McGrath and Sophie Molineux in succession tilted some momentum back India’s way. Perry returned to finish the job and alongside Kim Garth, she hit the winning runs in the penultimate over, a straight six off Sneh Rana. 

The previous highest run chase in women’s ODI was 304, achieved by Sri Lanka over South Africa in 2024. This result further exposed India’s bowling frailties. 

After Healy won the toss and put India in, Mandhana collected her first fifty of the World Cup, off 46 balls, to extend her dominance over Australia. In five ODI innings since December, Mandhana’s scores against Australia are 105, 58, 129, 117 and yesterday’s 88. During her innings, Mandhana crossed 5000 runs in ODIs when she lofted Garth for one of her three sixes. She looked on course for a century before falling in the 25th over, which cued an overall collapse of 9/138. 

Australia, down a bowler once Megan Schutt left the field injured, did well to keep India from racing to a mammoth total. Rawal made 75 off 96 balls, hitting 10 fours and a six, before she was second out to become Sutherland’s first wicket. India kept scoring, but Molineux’s left-arm spin yielded the wickets of Mandhana, Harleen Deol and Deepti Sharma to dent India’s progress. 

Deol (38 off 42 balls), Harmanpreet (22 off 17), Jemimah Rodrigues (33 off 21) and Richa Ghosh (32 off 22) all made handy innings, but the loss of wickets told. Sutherland took the final two wickets to end the innings and finish with five.