As Team India gears up to face Australia in the semi-finals of the Women’s ODI World Cup 2025, the stage is set for another epic clash between two cricketing giants. Australia enters the knockout match with an intimidating 15-match winning streak in World Cups — a streak that India will be eager to end. History, interestingly, offers the Indian team a powerful source of inspiration: twice before, Indian teams have stopped unstoppable Australian sides in their tracks.

The Indian men’s cricket team has achieved this feat twice — first in 2001, when they ended Australia’s 16-match winning streak, and again in 2008, when they repeated history with a famous win in Perth. That 2008 victory also made India the first Asian team to win a Test at the WACA. Now, it’s the turn of the Indian women’s team to aim for the same milestone.

Australia’s women’s team may have gone unbeaten in 15 consecutive matches and not lost an ICC knockout since the 2017 World Cup, but India has proven before that they can beat them on the big stage. In the 2017 Women’s ODI World Cup semi-final, India handed Australia a 36-run defeat, powered by Harmanpreet Kaur’s unforgettable 171-run innings.

With the upcoming semi-final set to take place in Navi Mumbai — a venue where Australia will be playing their first match — the Women in Blue have both history and home advantage on their side. If they manage to pull off a win, it will mark the third time an Indian team has broken Australia’s long-running dominance — a feat that would further cement India’s growing stature in world cricket.