VISAKHAPATNAM: Def­e­n­ding champions Australia chased down a mammoth 331 to beat India by three wickets with an over to spare in a pulsating Women’s World Cup clash in Visakhapatnam on Sunday.

It was the highest successful run chase in the history of women’s ODIs.

At the halfway mark, India were sitting pretty, having piled up their highest-ever World Cup total of 330 all out. But Alyssa Healy had other ideas.

The Australian skipper unleashed a stunning exhibition of strokeplay, cracking 142 off 107 balls in a knock that will go down among the finest in tournament history.

Her innings, laced with 21 fours and three sixes, set up the record chase and rewrote the history books, eclipsing Sri Lanka’s previous best of 302 against South Africa in Potchefstroom in 2024.

Healy was in control from the outset, racing to her half-century in just 35 balls, the fastest fifty of this tournament, before bringing up her sixth ODI hundred, her first as captain.

“Very proud of the team. It looked like 360 at one stage. We identified which bowlers to target and adapted beautifully,” Healy said.

After her dismissal, Austr­alia wobbled briefly, losing a couple of quick wickets, but with the required rate under control, panic never set in.

The ever reliable Ellyse Perry held the lower order together.

Battling cramps, she returned to the crease in the dying moments after earlier retiring hurt and finished the job in style, dancing down the track to loft Sneh Rana straight down the ground for the winning six.

Earlier, India’s openers Pratika Rawal and Smriti Mandhana had set the stage alight, adding 155 off 24.3 overs in a rollicking start.

Mandhana, all grace and timing, reached a personal milestone, crossing 5000 career runs in ODIs, becoming only the second Indian and the fifth overall to do so. She is also the fastest to the milestone.

But from 294-4, India’s innings nosedived as they lost their last six wickets for just 36 runs, bowled out in 48.5 overs, a collapse that cost them dearly.

“We could have easily scored 30 more runs. The last six overs cost us the game,” lamented Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur.

For Australia, Annabel Sutherland gave herself the perfect birthday gift, a maiden five-wicket haul on the day she turned 24.

Scoreboard

INDIA:

P. Rawal c Perry b Sutherland75

S. Mandhana c Litchfield b Molineux80

H. Deol c Sutherland b Molineux38

H. Kaur c Molineux b Schutt22

J. Rodrigues c Mooney b Sutherland33

R. Ghosh c (sub) b Sutherland32

A. Kaur c Molineux b Gardner16

D. Sharma c Mooney b Molineux1

S. Rana not out8

K. Gaud c (sub) b Sutherland1

S. Charani b Sutherland0

EXTRAS (B-2, LB-4, W-13, PEN-5)24

TOTAL (all out, 48.5 overs)330

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-155 (Mandhana), 2-192 (Rawal), 3-234 (H. Kaur), 4-240 (Deol), 5-294 (Ghosh), 6-309 (Rodrigues), 7-320 (Sharma), 8-327 (Kaur), 9-330 (Gaud)

BOWLING: Garth 5-0-35-0, Schutt 6.1-0-37-1, Gardner 7-0-40-1 (1w), Molineux 10-1-75-3 (2w), Sutherland 9.5-0-40-5 (4w), McGrath 4.5-0-43-0 (3w), King 6-0-49-0 (2w)

AUSTRALIA:

A. Healy c Rana b Charani142

P. Litchfield c Rana b Charani40

E. Perry not out47

B. Mooney c Rodrigues b Sharma4

A. Sutherland b Charani0

A. Gardner b A. Kaur45

T. McGrath lbw b Sharma12

S. Molineux lbw b A. Kaur18

K. Garth not out14

EXTRAS (LB-2, W-7)9

TOTAL (for seven wickets, 49 overs)331

DID NOT BAT: A. King, M. Schutt

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-85 (Litchfield), 2-168 (Mooney), 3-170 (Sutherland), 4-265 (Healy), 5-279 (McGrath), 6-299 (Gardner), 7-303 (Molineux)

BOWLING: A. Kaur 9-0-68-2 (1w), Gaud 9-1-73-0 (1w), Rana 10-0-85-0 (2w), Charani 10-1-41-3 (1w), Sharma 10-0-52-2 (1w), Kaur 1-0-10-0

RESULT: Australia won by three wickets.

PLAYER-OF-THE-MATCH: Alyssa Healy

Published in Dawn, October 13th, 2025