Tactics board: Mandhana's level-up, Sutherland's steady hand
India have exposed weaknesses in the Australian side before and they have to do it again in the second Women’s World Cup semi-final
S Sudarshanan28-Oct-20251:08
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Familiar foes Australia and India will face off in the second semi-final of the Women’s World Cup 2025 in Navi Mumbai. India remain the last team to beat Australia at the ODI World Cup – in the 2017 semi-final – with the defending champions unbeaten in 15 completed matches since. Here are a few areas of tactical interest ahead of this huge clash.Mandhana vs Schutt and GardnerSmriti Mandhana is the leading run-scorer at this World Cup with 365 runs at a strike rate of 102.52. Her latest ODI avatar features her as the enforcer with the bat, which comes across in the numbers as well.Till 2024, Ashleigh Gardner vs Mandhana went the offspinner’s way – five dismissals in eight innings, an average of 13.60 and a strike rate of 89.47. Megan Schutt vs Mandhana was not too dissimilar – four dismissals in 12 innings, an average of 24.50 and a strike rate of 70.50.Related
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In four matches against Australia in 2025, Mandhana has two centuries and two half-centuries. She has faced 71 balls from Gardner and scored 96 runs (135.21 strike rate) and hasn’t been dismissed yet. Against Schutt, she has scored 41 off 28 balls (146.42 strike rate) for zero dismissals. Mandhana has also been severe on the legspinners Alana King (225 strike rate) and Georgia Wareham (176.19) as well as on left-arm spinner Sophie Molineux (164.70), with only Molineux dismissing her earlier in the World Cup.
The caveat here is that Mandhana has shape-shifted per the nature of her opening partners. Pratika Rawal, who has been ruled out of the World Cup due to ankle and knee injuries, has been the anchor in her partnerships with Mandhana. Shafali Verma, Rawal’s replacement, is a naturally attacking batter. So while Mandhana has been the enforcer with Rawal, she has often played second fiddle to Shafali. But if recent patterns are anything to go by, Shafali would know she can afford to take her time and explode later than she usually does.Australia bowlers vulnerable?The tracks in New Chandigarh and Delhi on which India and Australia played a bilateral series just before the World Cup were flat. The pitch in Visakhapatnam when they met two weeks ago was also batting-friendly with India posting 330. The semi-final at the DY Patil Stadium is likely to be a high-scoring affair too.India have previous experience of putting Australia’s bowlers under the pump on flatter surfaces. Schutt (6.46), Kim Garth (6.66), Gardner (6.06) and Tahlia McGrath (7.05) all have a high economy rate in games against India this year. In this World Cup, against other oppositions, their corresponding economy rates are 3.78, 4.90, 5.46 with McGrath not even needing to bowl. Some of those non-India games, like Pakistan in Colombo, were in bowler-friendly conditions, which have contributed to this trend.King’s numbers reflect the biggest variance – her 12 wickets against other teams at this World Cup have come at an economy of 2.85 as opposed to just one wicket at an economy of 7.08 against India. In their group stage game, with Mandhana batting for as long as she did, Australia were forced to delay bringing King on. They also had to hold Wareham back in the matches they played both the leggies in.India have struggled to deal with Annabel Sutherland’s change-ups•Getty ImagesAustralia being Australia still have one star performer who has been able flummox India’s batting on whatever kind of pitch they’ve played on – Annabel Sutherland. She is the top wicket-taker (15) in the competition, her change-ups proving particularly effective. India had first-hand experience of that in Visakhapatnam. Sutherland has also had the better of Harmanpreet Kaur (three dismissals in seven ODI innings) and Richa Ghosh (five in seven). India would be well served to watch out for her sleight of hand.Renuka, Deepti and left-arm spinRenuka Singh and Kranti Gaud know what to expect of Australia openers Alyssa Healy and Phoebe Litchfield. Healy strikes at 80.76 against Renuka in ODIs, who primarily operates in the powerplay, for one dismissal. Gaud dismissed the Australia captain three times in the series they played before the World Cup. Using the early movement, India must try to get the Australian top order out early to control the game.They have the spinners to do it. Deepti Sharma has the wood over McGrath (five dismissals in nine innings) and has a history of keeping Gardner (94.54 strike rate) and Beth Mooney (90.84) relatively quiet. India also have left-arm spinner N Shree Charani, who picked up three wickets in the league game between the two teams.Australia have lost ten wickets to left-arm spin in this World Cup. That’s roughly one in five overs, which is a drop from where it was for the year 2025, before this tournament began (one wicket for every seven overs faced). Two left-arm spinners Nashra Sandhu and Sadia Iqbal had them reeling at 76 for 7. India will have taken note of that but they also have to balance that against other aspects – like having Sneh Rana’s batting down the order (she also matches up well against Litchfield, strike rate of 74.62 with two dismissals) and Navi Mumbai being the least spin-friendly venue (1.6 degrees of turn on average) at this World Cup.