India Awarded 5 Penalty Runs After Bizarre Incident During Women's World Cup Clash Against Australia

India were awarded five penalty runs during their Women's World Cup 2025 clash against Australia on Sunday. During the 29th over of India's innings, the delivery from Annabel Sutherland beat Pratika Rawal but ended up hitting the helmet just behind Australia wicket-keeper Alyssa Healy. According to 28.3.2 of the MCC rule book, if the ball strikes the helmet belonging to the fielding side, five penalty runs are awarded to the opposition. “Any runs completed by the batters before the ball strikes the protective helmet shall be scored, together with the run in progress if the batters had already crossed at the instant of the ball striking the protective helmet,” the rule states.

Coming to the match, Mandhana scripted history during the Women's ODI World Cup match against Australia in Visakhapatnam. Mandhana, who scored a quickfire 66-ball 80, became the first-ever player to score 1000 or more runs in Women's ODIs in a calendar year.

The 29-year-old opener also completed 5,000 runs in women's ODIs, becoming only the fifth and second Indian batter after Mithali Raj to achieve the feat. She is the youngest and fastest to the milestone, reaching it in 112 innings and 5,569 balls, surpassing Stafanie Taylor's 129 innings and Suzie Bates' 6,182 balls.

The elegant left-hander, who had endured a quiet start to the tournament, roared back to form in style smashing 80 off 66 balls (9x4s, 3x6s) and put together 155 runs opening stand with Pratika Rawal which was also the first century opening partnership of the competition.

Mandhana, who began the day on 982 runs from 17 matches, reached the 1,000-run landmark in the eighth over when she tore into Australian left-arm spinner Sophie Molineux, smashing her for four, six and four in an over that yielded 16 runs.

Mandhana broke the long-standing record of Australia's Belinda Clark (970 runs in 1997) of the highest run-getter in a calendar year in women's ODIs.

(With PTI inputs)

Topics mentioned in this article

Pratika Rawal Annabel Sutherland Alyssa Healy India Women Australia Women Women's ODI World Cup 2025 Cricket