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IND vs AUS: India face defining semi-final test at Lord’s

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Australia Women vs India Women (PC: BCCI) India will go into the Australia game knowing exactly what they need to do to make the semi-finals. South Africa play on Sunday morning (local time), which means India will have the qualification equation in front of them before taking the field. While they will hope Bangladesh can push South Africa all the way, India will not only need to beat Australia but also do so in a manner that ensures qualification for the semi-finals. It will not be easy. India beat Australia in the semi-finals of the 2025 ODI World Cup at home before going on to become world champions. In that sense, this could be a grudge match at Lord’s. Australia will be keen to avenge that defeat and will know that India have not played their best cricket so far. In contrast, the Australians have been outstanding, dominating the tournament with commanding wins over every opponent and boasting a superb net run rate of 4.7. The question everyone is asking is whether India can ri...
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The Forgotten Dream for Jai Moondra That Came Alive Against India

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Lorcan Tucker (L) with Jai Moondra. (PC: X/@Cricket Ireland) Vaibhav Tripathi & Rohit Juglan Go on Instagram and search for Mitchell Santner. The New Zealand white-ball captain, despite holding a central contract across all formats, has just two words in his bio: part-time cricketer. It’s classic Santner — self-deprecating and a little cheeky. But away from the humour, there are cricketers for whom being “part-time” isn’t a punchline. It’s reality. The most familiar face in that conversation is Saurabh Netravalkar. The Indian-born left-arm seamer became one of the stories of the T20 World Cup, juggling a full-time job in the United States of America with international cricket. In a country where cricket barely registers alongside mainstream sports, Netravalkar showed that chasing two careers at once isn’t just possible — it’s sometimes necessary. Fortunately for him, his employer backs his cricketing commitments whenever international du...
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India Face Australia at Lord’s with Women’s T20 World Cup Semi-final Spot on the Line

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  India Women (PC: BCCI Women)   Trisha Ghosal, London London has been sweltering over the past few days. The heat has been relentless, the humidity unforgiving. Much like the weather, the race for the two semi-final spots from Group A of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 has reached boiling point. Ironically, the forecast predicts cooler conditions from Sunday. By the end of the day, Group A, too, will have cooled off, with the identities of its two semi-finalists finally confirmed. From the moment the tournament draw was announced, Group A looked like the competition’s toughest pool. Australia, India and South Africa entered as genuine title contenders, leaving little room for error. Every result was expected to have a ripple effect, and that is exactly how the group has unfolded. Australia have been the benchmark throughout. Four wins from four matches have taken them to eight points, while their staggering Net Run Rate of +4.724 means they are virtually assured of ...
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A clear Gautam Gambhir stamp — Vaibhav Sooryavanshi will have to wait and rightly so

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  Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. Image :X Boria Majumdar, London There was serious speculation if Vaibhav Sooryavanshi would be given a senior international debut against Ireland in Belfast on Friday. He wasn’t and will now wait for the second game on Sunday. Let me state this clearly — it was a very logical and fair call. You need to earn your stripes for the national team and the two incumbent openers have done so. Vaibhav will indeed, but he will need to wait a few days more. Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson were India’s chosen openers at the T20 World Cup earlier this year. India won the tournament in style and Abhishek signed off with an electric half-century in the final. Sanju, on the other hand, returned with the Player of the Tournament award. How do you drop either of them was always going to be the question? While there was much hype over Vaibhav and justifiably so, with all that he has done, it is equally true that dropping either of the two openers would have been unfair. ...
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Accept, Introspect, Implement – India need the Abhinav Bindra Formula for Australia

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    Boria Majumdar in Manchester India will need to accept that they haven’t been at their best. They need to accept that their catching and fielding have been dismal. To say such things happen and that it is just a one-off will not really help, because it isn’t a one-off. It is not that India have dropped catches in just one game. They have put down a total of 11 catches, and that’s the reality. Some of these chances were fairly straightforward and could ultimately push India out of the World Cup. The reality is that poor fielding could cost India a place in the semi-finals. We at RevSportz – Trisha, Snehasish and I – have attended all of India’s training sessions here in the UK. And may I say, there has been intensity. Fielding drills are a regular feature of these sessions, and catching practice is constant. Radha Yadav is certainly one of the better fielders and has taken some blinders in training. Yet, when it comes to match situations, she has now missed three chanc...
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The curious case of Prema Rawat: Why India moved on from their long-awaited leg-spinner after one World Cup game

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  Prema Rawat (PC: RevSportz) Trisha Ghosal, Manchester For the best part of 18 months, one question kept surfacing around India Women: where was the leg-spinner? In a side that has repeatedly spoken about depth and variety, the absence of a specialist wrist-spinner had become one of the more curious subplots in their T20 set-up. And whenever that question came up, one name followed it, Prema Rawat. Rawat was no random World Cup replacement. She had quietly built a strong case through India A tours and domestic cricket, picking up wickets consistently and staying in the selectors’ orbit. Yet the call-up never came. India persisted with other combinations, while Sneh Rana’s reliability and Sree Charani’s rise only narrowed Rawat’s path further. That is why her story feels so strange. When Shreyanka Patil was ruled out of the Women’s T20 World Cup with an ankle injury, India turned to Rawat. The choice was not without merit. She had impressed in India A colours and, significan...
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IND-W vs BAN-W: Shafali Verma Thanks Harmanpreet Kaur After Match-Winning All-Round Display

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Shafali-Harmanpreet (PC: BCCI Women) India all-rounder Shafali Verma credited Harmanpreet Kaur for boosting her confidence and playing a key role in her development as a bowler after delivering an impressive spell in India’s victory over Bangladesh at Old Trafford Cricket Ground in Manchester. Although she did not pick up a wicket, with catches being dropped off her bowling, Shafali impressed with the new ball, bowling a tight spell and conceding just 11 runs in her two overs. When asked about her bowling during the post-match presentation, Shafali said: “Well, of course in the nets, I used to bowl with the new ball and with the old ball. Sometimes I laugh a lot, but in the end, whatever the team needs, I’m there for that. And thanks to Harman, she always gives me a lot of confidence when I bowl and gives me a very good field setting. So just thanks to her.” With the bat, Shafali smashed a 34-ball 53 to help India win the game and was named Player of the Match. While she is p...
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