Australia captain Alyssa Healy said the 2025 World Cup semi-final loss to India still hurts, calling it a tough lesson despite her team’s strong campaign.
Australia captain Alyssa Healy admitted that the semi-final loss to India in the 2025 Women’s World Cup still lingers in her mind. India scripted history by chasing down a record 339 runs in Navi Mumbai, marking the highest successful chase in any World Cup knockout match.
Speaking on the Willow Talk podcast with Brad Haddin, Healy reflected on how the defeat overshadowed Australia’s otherwise strong campaign. The wicketkeeper-batter also shared that she has yet to watch the final, where India defeated South Africa to lift their maiden Women’s World Cup trophy.
“Look, I’ve been better. I won’t lie to you. But at the same time, it is what it is. End of the day that, after seven weeks of a big long tour, we played some really really incredible cricket but didn’t quite get over a certain Indian hurdle, I suppose you’d say. So, disappointing in that regard, but I’m looking forward to seeing what this team can do over this next cycle because it’s really exciting,” Healy said.
“(We are) playing some amazing cricket and teams are having to keep up to knock us off, which I think is really cool. Obviously, I haven’t watched the final, but India got themselves over the line, which is really cool, and it’s great for the global game. So, from that perspective, it was an amazing experience, but obviously sitting here a little bit disappointed, and it’ll haunt me for a little while that one, but that’s ok,” she added.
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Phoebe Litchfield’s maiden World Cup century and Ash Gardner’s late surge had powered Australia to a strong total, but Healy believed the side could have reached 350 or more. She said losing wickets in the final overs cost them crucial runs that might have changed the game’s outcome. Alyssa Healy also pointed out that the conditions at DY Patil Stadium played a key role, explaining that the red soil behaved slower early on but quickened under lights, helping India’s batters during their record 339-run chase.
“That’s probably why it – I know we’ll probably get to it later and you’ll probably make me cry at some point – but that’s probably what makes it hurt more is that we’re playing so well. Everyone was contributing. Everyone was playing out of their skin which I thought was unbelievable and we had sort of half an off night and get done in a knockout game. One to reflect on, yeah, the team’s flying at the moment which is pretty cool but sad we don’t have a trophy to show for it,” she said.
“You know when you get a bad feeling? I was actually thinking to myself, I think I should just wait a little bit longer because we’re going to go off. I think I should just wait. But I’d already waited because we had a three-minute wait and the lights were meant to go on in the break. And then I said to the umpire, are they going to come on mid ball? Like, should we wait for them to come on? And she’s like, they’ve told us at the end of the over. So, as I was set up, ready to go and the bowler was about to run in, the lights went on. Well, one of the lights went on. So, then we had to wait for all of the lights to flick on,” she continued.
“At the other end, people were walking in front of the sightscreen. There was just a lot of chaos around, which is sometimes what happens over in India. There are just people everywhere doing different jobs around the ground, and it was really frustrating. If I’d have waited a minute longer, we would have been off the field and then we come back on and have another crack at it,” Healy concluded.
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