Video: Harmanpreet Kaur Breaks Down After India Enter Women's World Cup Final With Historic Win vs Australia

As Amanjot Kaur struck the winning boundary to seal a five-wicket victory for India over reigning champions Australia in the second semifinal of the ICC Women's World Cup in Navi Mumbai, skipper Harmanpreet Kaur was the first to race out of the dugout to embrace Jemimah Rodrigues, who had hammered a majestic and memorable century to make the win possible. Harmanpreet herself scored a run-a-ball 89 and shared a 167-run partnership with Jemimah as India aced the biggest chase in Women's World Cup history. Chasing Australia's 338 all out built on a century by Phoebe Litchfield (117) and half-centuries by Ellyse Perry (77) and Ashleigh Gardner (63)-India reached 341/5 in 48.3 overs, thanks to Rodrigues' sensational innings, Harmanpreet's blazing 89, and cameos by Deepti Sharma and Richa Ghosh to script a memorable victory and set up a summit clash with South Africa on Sunday.

The Indian team members could not control their emotions after the win, as Harmanpreet Kaur and Jemimah Rodrigues broke down. 

The greatest run chase in the history of women's cricket and all credit goes to Jemimah Rodrigues. An innings of a lifetime by her. pic.twitter.com/wV9jP606je

— ADITYA (@Wxtreme10) October 30, 2025

The India captain said she was extremely proud of her team's performance, calling it the outcome of six months of hard work by the players and the coaching staff led by Amol Muzumdar.

"Very proud. I don't have words to express myself. Feeling great-this time we have crossed that line which we have been working towards for so many years," said Harmanpreet Kaur in the post-match presentation.

"We (she and head coach Amol Muzumdar) spoke to each other and said we've done this because we've been working so hard. Both of us are really proud of this team. We have that trust that any player can win any match from any situation. We made a few mistakes, but we've been learning from them," she added.

Harmanpreet pointed to the narrow defeat against England as the match they discussed on the morning of the semifinal against Australia.

"Today, we wanted everything to go in our favour in every situation, and we kept telling ourselves to be there for the team-and that worked for us. That day (against England), we realised we didn't execute well. We were late by 2-3 overs; we could have taken risks a few overs earlier, and that cost us. That's what we discussed-that we have to be calculative. Once you're out of the game, it's hard to come back," said Harman.

She said they had discussed in the pre-match team meeting the importance of staying calm and calculated in the final five overs.

"I know it's 50 overs, but the last five overs are where you have to be very particular and calculative. We knew what we had to do in that situation, and we wanted to finish it before the 50th over," said the Indian captain.

She gave credit to Jemimah Rodrigues for her brilliant innings and the way she remained at the crease till the end.

"She (Rodrigues) is someone who always wants to do well for the team-always very calculative and wants to take responsibility. We always have that trust in her. Both of us had a good time on the pitch. Whenever we were batting, we were complementing each other and calculating. I really enjoy batting with her. She's always telling me: we have five runs, seven runs, two balls left. That shows how involved she is. I was amazed to see how she was thinking. Lots of credit to her for holding her nerve and continuing to bat for the team," said Harmanpreet.

She added that now the focus is entirely on the final against South Africa.

"One more game to go. Today, we all played well-happy with the result. But we've already started speaking about the next game, which shows how focused we are and how keen we are to win the World Cup. Playing in a home World Cup is special, and we want to give back to our fans and families. One more game to go, and we will give it our best," said the seasoned all-rounder, who is playing in her fifth World Cup.

Harmanpreet also thanked the huge crowd that had filled the stadium for their support. "We are not playing alone. They are with us, and every game, they are coming and pushing us. They have been amazing-even when we lost, we got messages that this World Cup is not done and we can change it. The entire country is with us," she said.

Topics mentioned in this article

Harmanpreet Kaur India Women Australia Women Women's ODI World Cup 2025 Cricket