ICC Women’s World Cup 2025: India vs England Prediction; Parimatch Sports expert knows the answer
The two powerhouses of women’s cricket will clash on Sunday
Two of the heavyweights of women’s cricket, India and England, will clash in Match 20 of the 2025 ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup at the Holkar Stadium in Indore on Sunday, October 19.
In July, India visited England for a 5-match T20I series and a 3-match ODI series and the Women in Blue scripted history as they won their first-ever T20I series against England and also won the ODI leg of the tour 2-1.
In the ODI series, India won both the 50-over encounters while the hosts won the rain-affected match sandwiched between the two full games. In the series decider, Harmanpreet Kaur scored a scintillating century that powered her side to a morale-boosting series win before the team returned to India.
The English team underwent numerous changes in 2025 as the captaincy baton was handed over from Heather Knight to Natalie Sciver-Brunt. After the 16-0 thrashing at the hands of arch-rivals Australia in the Women’s Ashes earlier this year, the England Cricket Board also decided to change the head coach from Jon Lewis to Charlotte Edwards.
The former Mumbai Indians head coach has not enjoyed the best start to her stint in the England dressing room, but England’s highest run-scorer in WODI history would be hoping that her experience in India would prove beneficial in reaching the knockout stage of the ongoing tournament.
Let’s have a look at how both the teams head into the crucial contest and which matchups could define the result of the match on Sunday:
Parimatch Sports Forecast: How the Teams Are Positioned Ahead of the Clash
India has started the tournament with two easy wins against neighbors, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, in their first two fixtures. Now, the Women in Blue are set to face South Africa, Australia, and England in their next three matches, which would certainly test their credentials for the title.
On the other hand, England completely annihilated South Africa in the tournament opener for both sides as the Proteas were dismissed for a meagre total of 69 runs. At the Baraspara Stadium in Guwahati, Linsey Smith ran through their top order while the other bowlers took care of the middle order and the tail-enders.
While England chased the target of 70 runs without any hiccup as Tammy Beaumont and Amy Jones helped the team get a major boost in the net run rate, the next run chase against Bangladesh wasn’t as smooth.
After the Lionesses had dismissed Bangladesh for a total of 178 runs at the same stadium, everyone assumed that it would be another straightforward run chase. Although Marufa Akter and Fahima Khatun had different plans, as they had England struggling at 103/6 in the 30th over. A 79-run partnership between the experienced Heather Knight and Charlie Dean rescued England from deep waters as they ascended to the top of the points table.
Parimatch Sports Preview: Key Matchups Shaping the Powerplay and Middle Overs
Modern cricket is often defined by matchups and how clutch players handle the pressure against a specific bowler or batter in key overs of the clash.
#1 Will the English spinners spin a web around Indian batters?
The pitches in the Indian subcontinent usually assist the slower bowlers as there is turn and uneven bounce on offer on dusty pitches across the country. England has come to the World Cup with a clear plan of playing one frontline seamer with Sciver-Brunt bowling a few overs of medium pace alongside Lauren Bell’s quota of 10 overs
With Bell, England has deployed the strategy of playing World No.1 Sophie Ecclestone, Linsey Smith, and all-rounders Alice Capsey and Charlie Dean also add different variations of spin bowling to the Lionesses’ arsenal.
While Harmanpreet Kaur and Jemimah Rodrigues are pretty used to playing Eccelestone and her partners in crime, it would be crucial for the two middle-order lynchpins to protect the likes of Richa Ghosh and Sneh Rana from England’s wily spinners so that they can fire against the faster bowlers in the death overs.
#2 Sneh Rana & Deepti Sharma vs English batters
In the first two matches of the tournament for England, Sciver-Brunt’s side was chasing sub-200 targets, and the form of several English batters could be called into question if they have to chase down a respectable target on a sluggish surface.
While the England batters looked largely at ease against South Africa, the English side found themselves at sea against wrist-spinner Fatima Khatun, who used her experience to outfox most of the English batting lineup.
The experienced Knight will have to be at her best as the spin trio of Sneh Rana, Deepti Sharma, and Shree Charani could derail the English batting at any given point in the match. Between Sneh and Deepti, the spin twins have picked 10 wickets in India’s first two matches of the ongoing tournament.
Sneh Rana and Deepti Sharma have been crucial for India with both bat and ball
Except being exceptional with the ball, both Deepti and Sneh were crucial in digging India out of a big mess against Sri Lanka, and both all-rounders yet again came to the fore against arch-rivals Pakistan to help India add a few more runs to the board.
#3 Key Batters to define the clash
Smriti Mandhana sits like a queen atop the ICC ODI batter rankings with 791 rating points, and England skipper Sciver-Brunt is the closest to Mandhana as she claims the second spot on the elite list with 731 rating points.
Sciver-Brunt claimed the third spot in most runs for England in WODIs with her vital contribution in the run chase against Bangladesh. While both Mandhana and Sciver-Brunt have failed to mount a big individual score in the ongoing tournament, the India vs England clash would offer them an opportunity to make the most of the occasion.
Apart from the top two, there is more representation from both sides in the Top 20 of the ICC Batters’ rankings in WODIs as Jones, Beaumont, Harmanpreet, Deepti, and Jemimah stake a claim for their places on the elite list.
Holkar Stadium in Indore is highly known for producing batting-friendly pitches, and all three centuries of the first eight fixtures of the 2025 Women’s Cricket World Cup have been scored in the commercial capital of Madhya Pradesh. With many batting dynamos featuring in the Anglo-Indian clash on October 19, many batting records could be broken at the Holkar Stadium.
Predicted Playing XIs
India: Pratika Rawal, Smriti Mandhana, Harleen Deol, Harmanpreet Kaur ©, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (wk), Amanjot Kaur, Sneh Rana, Shree Charani, Kranti Gaud
England: Tammy Beaumont, Amy Jones (wk), Heather Knight, Natalie Sciver-Brunt ©, Sophia Dunkley, Danni Wyatt-Hodge, Alice Capsey, Charlie Dean, Sophie Ecclestone, Linsey Smith, Lauren Bell