Australia drops the World Cup

PL: it took an extraordinary effort by India to end Australia's dominance of the 50-over format

Alyssa Healy puts down a simple but critical catch

If there is any consolation for the Australian women, it is that it took what commentator Ian Bishop called, “the greatest run chase in the history of women’s one day international, given the context” to knock them out of a World Cup which had appeared to be theirs for the taking.

It is hard to remember a more dominant cricket side than the one that bent its knee to India in front of a delirious home crowd at Navi Mumbai, but India found a way to defeat a team that appeared impervious to such a fate.

The failure to make the final, means that, for all their successes, the Australian side has failed to make the final of the T20 and 50-over World Cups.

It took something extraordinary to break a cycle of 15 consecutive wins in the Women’s ODI World Cup (dating back to 2017), and India will enter Sunday’s final knowing they rose to the challenge.

India posted 339 to knock off Australia’s impressive, but not totally convincing, effort with the bat. In doing that, they bettered the 331 run chase by Australia against them in the group stage.

Jemima Rodrigues’ ice-cool 127no got the job done for India. Harmanpreet Kaur contributed 89 to a 167-run third-wicket stand with Rodrigues, but Australia had its chances.