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An emotional Jemimah Rodrigues after leading India to Women's World Cup final in Navi Mumbai. (Express Photo by Amit Chakravarty)
The India women’s team pulled off the highest run chase in ODI history when on the back of Jemimah Rodrigues’ century, the Women in Blue chased down 339 runs and eliminated defending champions Australia from the Women’s World Cup semifinal on Thursday. Head coach Amol Muzumdar in a BCCI video opened up about what message he gave to the team during the mid-innings break.
“Just amazed by what we have seen tonight. Amazing knocks by Harman, Jemi. Everyone. Right from the start. Smriti also. Whatever little she did. Amazing. I couldn’t be happier. We had written in the board inside the dressing room that we just need to get one more run than Australia. We are into the final,” Muzumdar said.
Rodrigues played the innings of her career, remaining unbeaten on 127 as India made it to their third Women’s ODI World Cup final by halting the Australian juggernaut. Jemimah’s knock, her third century and first in a World Cup, was built along with a robust 167-run stand for the third wicket with skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (89 off 88 balls, 10x4s, 2x6s). The win helped India end reigning champions Australia’s 15-match unbeaten run in the competition across two editions.
What was Amol Muzumdar's message in the mid-innings? 🤔
Find out from the #TeamIndia Head Coach himself as he sums up a surreal night 🥳
Get your #CWC25 tickets 🎟 now: https://t.co/vGzkkgwXt4#WomenInBlue | #INDvAUS pic.twitter.com/5fISiTfbbk
— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) October 31, 2025
Earlier, Phoebe Litchfield’s 119 off 93 balls propelled Australia to 339 all out at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai. While India suffered a couple of early setbacks, Rodrigues and Kaur’s stand for the third wicket which came in just 156 balls knocked the wind out of Australia’s sails. India ended up chasing the target with five wickets and nine balls to spare.
“We knew that we’ve done it against this team, and I felt with the way Australia started, they were 30 runs short with the way they were going (and) with the start they (had) got. DY Patil is such a pitch, any score is chaseable. My thought process was that I just had to be there because the runs will come, but I need to be there to get those runs,” Jemimah said in the post-match press conference on Thursday.
“Whichever team would have come in the semifinals, it would have been the same reply from our team because we don’t want to play the team… we want to play the moment and win that moment,” she added.
(With agency inputs)
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