With knockouts in sight, India aim to fine-tune against Bangladesh
Bangladesh hope their spinners can test the tournament hosts in their last league game
Sruthi Ravindranath
25-Oct-2025 • 7 hrs ago
Big picture - India look to gather momentum
India will walk into this fixture with a sense of relief and renewed confidence. Having already secured a place in the semi-finals, the pressure has shifted from qualification to maintaining momentum. After three games where things seemed to go awry, they finally hit top gear against New Zealand, led by a commanding performance from their batters.
It's not just that. The match will be played in Navi Mumbai - the venue for both India's semi-final and the final - a ground India know well and one where they appear to have found their ideal template. After several games of tinkering with combinations, they seemed to get it right against New Zealand, reverting to five-bowler setup, leaving allrounder Amanjot Kaur out. The move to promote the returning Jemimah Rodrigues to No. 3 also paid off, and that could open the door for further experimentation against Bangladesh.
India's bowlers backed the batters up with precision. The seamers struck early, and the rest of the attack ensured New Zealand never recovered, forcing errors and maintaining pressure throughout.
The middle order was not tested but with knockout games approaching, time in the middle for those players could be invaluable. India have batted first in five matches so far and chased only once - losing that game to England by four runs - so they may also be tempted to test themselves in a chase, should they win the toss, to round out their preparation.
For Bangladesh, this is a chance to upset one of the tournament favourites and prove they belong on this stage. They've run stronger sides close in at least three games and have relied on their disciplined bowling attack, their biggest strength all tournament. There have been flashes of resistance with the bat, and if they can sustain those longer, they have a chance of stretching India.
Form guide
India WLLLW (last five completed games, most recent first)
Bangladesh LLLLL
In the spotlight - Renuka Singh and Bangladesh's legspinners
India will look once again to Renuka Singh for early breakthroughs. Against New Zealand, she delivered exactly that. Having missed the matches against Australia and South Africa, and gone wicketless in her two previous outings, Renuka rediscovered her rhythm in Navi Mumbai. Exploiting the early movement on offer, she teamed up with Kranti Gaud to keep New Zealand in check, not conceding a single boundary in the first six overs. Her efforts were rewarded with the wickets of Georgia Plimmer and Sophie Devine, both undone by sharp in-duckers. She finished with figures of 2 for 25 from her six overs - a spell that set the tone for India's dominance.
Can Bangladesh's legspinning duo of Rabeya Khan and Shorna Akter trouble India's batters? The pair injected energy and control into their attack against Sri Lanka, bowling tirelessly in the Navi Mumbai heat. Their discipline through the middle overs stifled scoring opportunities and built pressure. Rabeya provided the key breakthrough, removing the dangerous Chamari Athapaththu and halting Sri Lanka's momentum, while Shorna struck twice, dismissing Hasini Perera and Nilakshika Silva, to help restrict the opposition to just 202.
Team news
Richa Ghosh copped a blow to her left hand while keeping against New Zealand and was off the field during much of their chase, with Uma Chetry taking the gloves. On the eve of the Bangladesh game, bowling coach Aavishkar Salvi said Ghosh was "fine and the S&C team is taking care of it," but India were "still discussing" her availability. India went back to their five-bowler strategy in the match against New Zealand, leaving allrounder Amanjot out, and they are likely to persist with that winning combination.
India (probable): 1 Smriti Mandhana, 2 Pratika Rawal, 3 Harleen Deol, 4 Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), 5 Jemimah Rodrigues, 6 Richa Ghosh (wk), 7 Deepti Sharma, 8 Sneh Rana, 9 Renuka Singh, 10 Kranti Gaud, 11 Shree Charani.
Sharmin Akter walked off battling cramps during Bangladesh's chase against Sri Lanka but came back to bat in the final over. There are no injury concerns in the side.
Bangladesh (probable): 1 Fargana Hoque, 2 Rubya Haider, 3 Sharmin Akhter, 4 Nigar Sultana (capt & wk), 5 Sobhana Mostary, 6 Ritu Moni, 7 Shorna Akter, 8 Nahida Akter, 9 Rabeya Khan, 10 Nishita Akter, 11 Marufa Akter.
Pitch and conditions
The pitch remained covered on the eve of the game with rain in the air. There's rain forecast for Sunday evening as well. The surface has generally aided batting, while fast bowlers have tended to get early movement.
Stats that matter
- Smriti Mandhana and Pratika Rawal have 1557 partnership runs between them across 20 innings in 2025, the second-most by any pair in ODIs in a calendar year. Only Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly are ahead, with 1635 runs in 29 innings in 1998.
- Kranti Gaud has 22 wickets in 13 ODIs so far. These are the most by an India bowler in her debut year in Women's ODIs and only three overall have taken more - Charmaine Mason (25 in 1997), Aimee Watkins (23 in 2002) and Lyn Fullston (23 in 1982).
- Bangladesh's bowlers have an economy rate of 4.54 in this World Cup, the same as England's.
Sruthi Ravindranath is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo