Team India has been fined five percent of their match fee for maintaining a slow over-rate during their ICC Women’s World Cup 2025 league match against Australia at the ACA-VDCA Stadium in Visakhapatnam on Sunday, October 12.
Match referee Michell Periera, from the Emirates ICC International Panel of Match Referees, imposed the penalty after India were found one over short of the target once time allowances were considered.
According to Article 2.22 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which pertains to minimum over-rate offences, players are fined five percent of their match fee for every over their team fails to bowl in the allotted time.
India captain Harmanpreet Kaur accepted the sanction and pleaded guilty to the offence, thereby avoiding the need for a formal hearing. The charge was leveled by on-field umpires Sue Redfern and Nimali Perera, along with third umpire Kim Cotton and fourth umpire Jacqueline Williams.
“𝑻𝒆𝒂𝒎𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓-𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝑰𝑪𝑪 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒇𝒂𝒍𝒍, 𝒓𝒆𝒈𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒈𝒊𝒏, 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒐𝒅𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒖𝒄𝒕,” 𝒂𝒏 𝑰𝑪𝑪 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒅.
India Lost a High-Scoring Thriller
Despite an impressive batting effort, India fell short in a high-scoring thriller, losing to Australia by three wickets. This marked India’s second consecutive defeat in the tournament, following their earlier loss to South Africa at the same venue by an identical margin on October 9.
Batting first, India posted a competitive 330 in 48.5 overs, thanks to strong performances from their top order. Smriti Mandhana led the way with a fluent 80 off 66 balls, while Pratika Rawal contributed 75 off 96 deliveries. Handy cameos from Harleen Deol (38 off 42), Jemimah Rodrigues (33 off 21), and Richa Ghosh (32 off 22) helped India reach an imposing total.
Australia’s Annabel Sutherland was exceptional with the ball, claiming five wickets for just 40 runs, while Sophie Molineux picked up 3 for 75 in her 10-over spell.
“𝑨𝒍𝒚𝒔𝒔𝒂 𝑯𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒚’𝒔 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒄𝒌 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒕 — 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒚 𝒔𝒉𝒆’𝒔 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒕,” 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒂𝒏 𝑨𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉.
Chasing 331, Australia’s captain Alyssa Healy produced a match-winning 142 off 107 balls, decorated with 21 boundaries and three sixes. Valuable partnerships with Phoebe Litchfield (40 off 39), Ellyse Perry (47 off 52), and Ashleigh Gardner (45 off 46) guided Australia to chase down the target with one over and three wickets to spare.
India will now look to bounce back in their next fixture as they aim to keep their semi-final hopes alive in the Women’s World Cup 2025.
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