Superb centuries from Smriti Mandhana and Pratika Rawal powered India to a 53-run win over New Zealand and into the Women’s World Cup semi-finals on Thursday.

Co-hosts India joined defending champions Australia, England and South Africa in the final-four of the eight-nation tournament.

Openers Mandhana and Rawal put on 212 runs as India posted a mammoth 340-3 in 49 overs at a rain-hit DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai.

The left-handed Mandhana hit 109 and Rawal struck 122 as the pair started cautiously but soon bossed the opposition bowling with boundaries galore.

In reply, New Zealand finished on 271-8, chasing a revised target of 325 in 44 overs to bow out of the semi-final race with a match remaining.

The White Ferns, led by Sophie Devine, have been unlucky with two abandoned matches due to rain in Colombo.

“We are incredibly disappointed and gutted, not just for ourselves but for our friends and family,” said Devine, who will play her last one-day international against England on Sunday.

“Frustrating tournament — would have loved more opportunities to play.”

India bounced back from three defeats in a row to put up a clinical all-round show in their bid to win their first World Cup title.

“Whenever you’re playing at home, everyone expects a lot from us,” said skipper Harmanpreet Kaur. “Our discussions are that the crowd is with us and this is the time to enjoy rather than taking pressure.”

Mandhana and Rawal took the match away from New Zealand during their marathon stand — India’s best for any wicket in the women’s ODI World Cup.

Valiant Halliday and Gaze

Mandhana reached 100 with a single off Jess Kerr for her fifth hundred in 2025 and go level with South Africa’s Tazmin Brits for most tons in women’s ODI matches in a calender year.

She finally fell to Suzie Bates and walked off to a standing ovation from a raucous home crowd. The star batter hit 10 fours and four sixes in her 95-ball knock and was named player of the match.

Rawal kept up the charge with Jemimah Rodrigues, who made 76 not out, to raise her maiden World Cup hundred and the pair put on 76 runs to further push New Zealand on the backfoot.

Amelia Kerr dismissed Rawal with her leg-spin but Rodrigues stood firm and hit regular boundaries.

Rain interrupted India’s innings after the 48th over and it took over 90 minutes for the 49th and the last over to be bowled.

New Zealand’s reply was delayed due to light drizzle and lost an early wicket when Bates departed for one off medium-pace bowler Kranti Gaud in the second over.

Georgia Plimmer hit back in her 25-ball 30 but fell bowled to Renuka Singh’s medium-pace bowling.

Renuka struck again to send back Devine bowled for six as New Zealand slipped to 59-3.

A late push by Brooke Halliday, who hit 81, and Isabella Gaze, who made an unbeaten 65, infused some life into the chase in their sixth-wicket stand of 72 but the asking rate always kept India in control.

India play their final league match on Sunday against Bangladesh at the same venue.

Yes, just like in “Game of Thrones,” “Winter Is Coming” for the Premier League. But in this case it’s not hordes of the undead, it’s a new hi-vis ball so that players and fans can see it on the pitch just in case it snows.

The first time a winter ball was introduced in England’s top tier was back in 2004-05, which we can only assume was a particularly chilly winter, and it coincided with the official time zone switch from British Summer Time (BST) to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) every late October.

Then from 2008-09 onward, the marketing gurus figured that they should probably look to update the ball once a year. And here we are.

So all that means this 2025-26 version is the 20th offering of winter ball, coming as it does in PUMA’s first season as the official ball supplier for the Premier League.

Winter is coming. 🥶

Introducing the @pumafootball Under The Lights edition of the Premier League Ball!

— Premier League (@premierleague) October 23, 2025

The “Under the Lights” edition of the Puma Orbita Ultimate PL will debut on Nov. 8 when Tottenham Hotspur host Manchester United, and as you can see, we’ve been promised “a striking, high-visibility colorway … engineered to shine brightest under stadium floodlights — ensuring every pass, strike, and goal is impossible to miss.” Handy for VAR, then.

This season’s Premier League has seen 209 goals already across 80 matches played, with 11 won by stoppage-time goals — the highest share in history.

We can only assume that having a shiny new ball will help goalkeepers trim this down a bit for the rest of the campaign.