India Women's World Cup 2025 strengths & weaknesses: Harmanpreet Kaur's team aims to end 41-year drought on home soil

Indian women's cricket team aims to end a 47-year wait for its maiden ICC title when the campaign begins with a match against Sri Lanka in Guwahati Stadium on Tuesday.

India have been in good form in the ODI format and are cureently ranked No.3 in the world. The Harmanpreet Kaur-led team will look to take home advantage after 12 years.

The 13th edition of the marquee event will have eight teams, including Australia, England, India, New Zealand, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan. The teams will play 28 league matches in a round-robin format across four venues in India and one in Colombo for a record prize money of $13.88 million.

The total prize pool has also increased almost four times than the 2022 edition. It has surpassed men's 2023 edition ($10 million) to be in line with the ICC's push for pay parity and growth of women's cricket.

Colombo will host 11 group stage matches, including all of Pakistan's games. The big India vs Pakistan match will be held on on October 5.

One semifinal and the final are also scheduled there, should Pakistan go all the way.

India Women’s Team Strengths in World Cup 2025

Team India will enter the tournament with confidence, having beaten England in both ODI and T20I series recently. They also ended a massive losing-streak against Australia just before entering the big World Cup.

Team India almost chased 413 runs in the third ODI against Australia in New Delhi.

The team's biggest strength has been the opening combination, led by vice-captain Smirti Mandhana and youngster Pratika Rawal.

The left-right combination has already broken records for most runs in a calendar year for any wicket in women's ODIs.

Indian vice-captain Smriti Mandhana remains the fulcrum of the batting unit, enjoying the form of her life at the top of order.

Mandhana has been in stunning form this year, smashing four ODI centuries, including two back-to-back against Australia, earlier in the month. She averages 66.28 with a strike rate of 115.85.

Meanwhile, Rawal has prpvided who has provided solidity at the top in the absence of Shafali Verma.

Moreover, captain Harmanpreet Kaur is playing her fifth World Cup and has been the woman for the big stage for India. She has an average of over 50 in ODI World Cups. Kaur had also slammed a century against England recently and followed it up with a fifty against Australia.

The middle order has also been in good form. Jemimah Rodrigues, returning from an injury, scored 66 runs in the warm-up match against England. Richa Ghosh and all-rounder Deepti Sharma, who was India's last hope in the massive 400-run chase against Australia, can provide strong finishes.

India will be relieved with the return of Renuka Singh Thakur, who missed several matches due to injury.

Further, India's spin quartet of Deepti Sharma, Radha Yadav, Sneh Rana and N Sree Charani, will be useful in home conditions, especially if the ball starts gripping in the later stages of the tournament.

However, it remains to be seen how useful the trio would be on flatter pitches, that are expected at the start of the tournament.

Challenges Facing India Women in World Cup 2025

Team India's pace bowling department looks a little thin. While Thakur spearheads the bowling, she will not have much support. 22-year-old Kranti Goud, with only six matches to her name, has been promising with her pace and variations.

The lack of experience is glaring, apart from Thakur, Kranti, Arundhati Reddy and Amanjot, have played just 25 ODIs combined and have conceded 300-plus scores frequently in recent past.

There are also injury concerns with Reddy having left the field on a wheelchair after being struck in a warm-up game, while Amanjot also had an injury scare before she made a return in the last warm-up against New Zealand.

However, India's biggest challenge could be mental, where the team has time and again crumbled in crunch, pressure situations. They let go winning positions in the 2017 World Cup final and in the recent memory, the 2022 Commonwealth Games final, going down to Australia narrowly.

How India have done at the Women's World Cup

The Indian women's team played their first international match in 1976 and hosted their first Women's World Cup in 1978. India did not make much of an impact in the initial editions, but the breakout performance came in 1997, when the reached the semi final.

Team India's best finishes were in 2005 and 2017, when they made it to the finals of the World Cup, but were beaten by Australia and England, respectively.

India no longer have the underdog tag and are one of the contenders.

Team India squad

Harmanpreet Kaur (captain), Smriti Mandhana (vice captain), Pratika Rawal, Harleen Deol, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh, Uma Chetry, Renuka Singh Thakur, Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Sree Charani, Radha Yadav, Amanjot Kaur, Arundhati Reddy, Kranti Gaud.