Women’s World Cup 2025 semi-final predictions: Evaluating top four contenders based on form, squad strength, and past tournament records.
The 13th edition of the ICC Women’s World Cup commences on 30 September, with the hosts India taking on Sri Lanka in the opening contest at Guwahati. The defending champions, Australia, who won their record seventh title in the 2022 edition, once again start as the firm favourites to clinch the championship for the eighth time.
This World Cup follows a round-robin format where all eight sides play each other once, and the top-4 move to the knockouts. These teams have qualified based on their standings in the ICC Women’s Championship played between 2022 to 2025, and a Qualifier tournament held in Pakistan. One notable exclusion is the West Indies team, which didn’t qualify for the first time since the 2000 edition.
While the Aussies are strong as always, other teams could give them a tough fight. So, which of these eight sides, based on their recent form, could reach the Semi-finals?
At the outset, India, England, and South Africa are the sides that could join Australia. The reason is their performance in the Women’s World Championship, which acted as a qualifier for the World Cup.
Read More: Schedule of 2025 Women’s World Cup
Women’s ODI Championship 2022-2025 for these four sides
| Team | Matches | Won | Lost |
| Australia | 24 | 18 | 5 |
| India | 24 | 18 | 3 |
| England | 24 | 15 | 7 |
| South Africa | 24 | 12 | 11 |
As expected, these four sides top the standings with Australia and India winning 18 games apiece, the most in this phase. The Aussies have been quite dominant in this cycle, dropping just three games and losing an away series against England 1-2.
India, on the other hand, lost just five games and won a series each against South Africa, New Zealand, and England. The next best side are England, who have had a mixed bag by losing the series against India but winning against the World Champs, Australia.
What are each side’s strengths and recent form?
Australia: All-round side
The Alyssa Healy-led side has a powerhouse of a batting line-up, with Beth Mooney topping the run charts for them in recent times. Since 2023, the veteran has scored 1036 runs at an average of just under 50, and the youngster Phoebe Litchfield closely follows her with 983 runs in 29 innings.
On the bowling front, Ashleigh Gardner (51 wickets) is the only bowler in the world to take more than 50 ODI wickets since 2023, and she averages a little under 19 during this time to go with the 659 runs with the bat.
Annabel Sutherland, who is also known for her hard-hitting capabilities, has been a leading all-rounder during this phase. In 30 games, she has picked 30 wickets at 23 and scored 762 runs, including three centuries in the middle-order.
Since 2023, the Australia Women’s team hasn’t lost a single series and has been quite dominant in most of these games.
Read More: Guide to India Women’s schedule in World Cup 2025
India Women: Consistent top-order
In the lead-up to the World Cup, the India Women, led by Harmanpreet Kaur, have been winning consistently, and the only side that has bothered them are the Aussies, to whom they lost three series.
Smriti Mandhana, India’s premier batter, leads the run tally with 1815 runs at an average of 58.52 and an incredible strike rate of 102 since 2023 in ODIs. Batters like Jemimah Rodrigues and Harmanpreet Kaur have hit multiple centuries in this phase, and they have got talented youngsters in the form of Pratika Rawal, Harleen Deol, and Richa Ghosh to bolster their batting line-up.
Deepti Sharma is the highest wicket-taker (49) for India, while also scoring 633 runs since 2023, and Sneh Rana comes in next with 26 wickets in 16 outings.
Read More: Positives from India Women’s first ODI victory at home against Australia Women since 2007
England & South Africa: Batters & bowlers in great form
Since 2023, there have been two batters each from England and South Africa, who are among the top-10 run-getters in Women’s ODIs.
Laura Wolvaardt, the South Africa skipper (1458), is second only to Mandhana, while Tazmin Brits has amassed 1190 runs. Laura’s England counterpart, Nat Sciver-Brunt (1083), and senior England batter Tamsin Beaumont (1023) have made over 1000 ODI runs since 2023.
Bowling-wise, there is the ever-consistent Sophie Ecclestone (39 wickets) and Charlie Dean (33) for England. While for South Africa, Nadine de Clerk (37) and Mlaba (33) have done exceedingly well.
Read More: Women’s World Cup 2025 gets record prize pool of USD 13.88 million; surpasses Men’s CWC 2023 payout
