India were racing towards a comprehensive victory against Bangladesh before rain played spoilsport in the final game in the league stage of the Women’s World Cup 2025 on Sunday, October 26, at the Dr DY Patil Sports Academy in Navi Mumbai.
Having already confirmed their spot in the semi-final, India opted to make three changes to give game time to the players who had been warming the bench in recent games. Rain delayed the start of play before Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss and opted to field first.
However, after the toss, a spell of rain delayed the start of the match. When the ground was ready for action to commence, a lot of time had been lost, and the match was reduced to a 43-over per side affair.
Bangladesh didn’t get off to a great start as Renuka Singh sent Sumaiya Akter packing in the first over. Rubya Haider Jhelik and Sharmin Akhter tried to steady the ship, but Deepti Sharma got the better of the former in the 10th over.
Midway through the 13th over, another burst of rain halted play. When the action resumed, the match had been further reduced, with each side getting 27 overs to bat. Despite having wickets in hand, Bangladesh didn’t show any intent to accelerate after the resumption.
Sobhana Mostary tried to break the shackles, hitting four boundaries in three overs. However, Radha Yadav struck in her fourth over to end Mostary’s 26-run knock off 21 balls. India picked up a wicket in each of the next five overs as Bangladesh finished on 119/9 in 27 overs. They lost their last six wickets for 28 runs in 32 balls.
Radha Yadav, who was playing her first match in the tournament, turned out to be the pick of the bowlers, finishing with figures of 3/30 in six overs. Shree Charani also bowled well, taking a couple of wickets in her six-over spell and giving away just 23 runs.
Chasing a revised target of 126 in 27 overs, India opened with Smriti Mandhana and Amanjot Kaur. The latter filled in for Pratika Rawal, who injured herself while fielding in the first innings. Mandhana continued her purple patch in the tournament, hitting six glorious boundaries in her unbeaten 34-run knock off 27 balls. Amanjot remained not out of 15 off 25 balls as the Women in Blue galloped to 57/0 in 8.4 overs.
The Indian openers were looking to finish the game in quick time, but rain had other ideas. After a final stoppage, the umpires waited for a brief while before deciding to call the game off.
Bangladesh finished seventh on the points table, only above Pakistan, with the one point they achieved from the game against India. On the other hand, Harmanpreet and Co. will return to action on Thursday, October 30, when they face defending champions Australia in Navi Mumbai.
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