India have a mountain to climb when they take on Australia in the all-important Women’s World Cup semi-final on Thursday. There will be little room for error, no space for hesitation — only belief and brilliance can tilt the contest in India’s favour.
Since that unforgettable night in Derby when Harmanpreet Kaur’s unbeaten 171 set the stage ablaze, Australia haven’t lost a single World Cup game. Eight years have passed since that knock shook the cricketing world, and yet it remains the benchmark of India’s defiance.
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Deepti Sharma and Smriti Mandhana were there that day, watching their captain script history. Come 2025, they’ll walk out again — wiser, hungrier, and aware that history has a strange way of calling upon familiar names. Can Harmanpreet summon another Derby-like storm? Can India rewrite the script against the most dominant side in women’s cricket?
Australia, with 15 consecutive World Cup wins, stand like a wall — unyielding and relentless. Their batting runs deep, their bowling bites hard, and their aura alone can crush opponents before the first ball is bowled. The odds couldn’t be steeper.
But imagine the moment if India were to breach that wall. Imagine the roar if Harmanpreet, Mandhana, and Deepti engineer another upset to stop the Australian jug
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