India opener and vice captain Smriti Mandhana took the blame for the loss against England on herself after the co-hosts of the Women’s World Cup 2025 suffered a narrow four-run defeat earlier today (October 19) and put their semis qualification chances at risk. Notably, the loss against England is India’s third successive defeat in the tournament, after previous heartbreaking results against South Africa and Australia.
Mandhana, who had looked in fine form throughout the year, continued to impress with the bat at the ICC event too. After slamming a whirlwind 80 against Australia in the last match, she once again delivered the goods against England with a fiery 88.
Smriti would have ideally hoped to see the game through for India but failed to bat till the end. Her dismissal in the 42nd over changed the complexion of the match when she decided to take on the attack to Linsey Smith but her front-footed launch lacked the requisite power and she was caught out near the boundary rope by Alice Capsey.
Richa Ghosh and Deepti Sharma soon followed suit, departing in the 46th and 47th over as Amanjot Kaur and Sneh Rana failed to take India over the finishing line in the end.
Echoing on the same lines, Mandhana said during the post-match press conference,
“The shot selection should have been better, I’ll take the blame as the collapse started with me. We still needed 5 runs an over, not 9. Amanjot and Sneh have also finished games in the WPL, we should have done better.”
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With the win today, England secured the third spot in the semis, with Australia and South Africa having already secured their qualification. This now means that there is just one more berth available for the knockouts.
India are currently fourth with four points from five games followed by New Zealand at fifth with the same tally but an inferior run-rate. Both teams are slated to lock horns next with the match acting like a virtual knockout.
If India can manage to win against NZ, they will have the edge to secure qualification because their final league stage match is against Bangladesh while NZ will face a tough opponent in England in their final game.
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