Team India got 5 runs for freeImage Credit source: PTI
IND-W vs AUS-W: For the first time in the Women’s World Cup 2025, Team India showcased almost its full batting ability and crossed the 300-run mark for the first time in this tournament. The special thing is that this performance of Team India came against the current world champion Australia. In this match played in Visakhapatnam, India scored a big score of 330 runs and the reason for this was the opening pair of Smriti Mandhana and Pratika Rawal, who together scored almost half the runs themselves. But not only the Indian batsmen, but Australia’s captain Alyssa Healy herself gave 5 free runs to India with one mistake. Why did this happen? Let us explain the whole matter to you.
India and Australia were face to face in the 13th match of the ICC Women’s World Cup 2025. A huge crowd of spectators was present in Visakhapatnam on Sunday 12th October to watch this match. In such a situation, Indian team batting first was no less than a treat for the fans. Then the excellent batting done by Smriti Mandhana and Pratika Rawal as soon as they arrived, gave Team India a better start than expected and put them in a strong position. Together they made a partnership of 155 runs in 24.3 overs. After this, the rest of the batsmen continued the process of scoring runs rapidly.
Healy made a mistake, got 5 runs
But during this time, something happened on the last ball of the 29th over, due to which India got 5 runs in its bag without overthrow. Medium pacer Annabel Sutherland was bowling this over and Pratika Raval, who was trying to play a sweep shot on the last ball of this over, missed it. She could not connect the ball with the bat and the ball went towards the wicketkeeper. But even Australian captain Alyssa Healy, who was keeping, could not stop the ball and the ball passed between her legs.
This is where he made a mistake. Actually, the helmet was placed right behind him and the ball collided with it. It is clear in the laws of cricket that if the ball hits the helmet or any other item of the fielding team, the batting team will get 5 runs of penalty. This was the only advantage the Indian team got and 5 runs were added to its account. Even Healy could not stop laughing embarrassedly at her mistake. Its video also went viral.
Big innings of Mandhana-Pratika
Talking about the Indian team, Smriti Mandhana, who had failed in the last three matches, made a strong comeback in this match and played an explosive inning of 80 runs in just 66 balls. Pratika also scored her first half-century in the World Cup and scored 75 runs. None of the batsmen who came after them could score big. Everyone played short innings quickly but in the last over, the Indian team lost 6 wickets for just 36 runs and were all out for 330 runs in 49 overs.