Superb centuries from openers Smriti Mandhana and Pratika Rawal provided the base for their rain-affected 53-run win on DLS over New Zealand in Navi Mumbai, finally nailing their place in the knockout matches after three successive defeats.
India will now finish fourth in the group table, so will have to meet the league winners in the semis.
The winners of Saturday's clash between unbeaten Australia and South Africa in Indore look sure to top the group and thus book a knockout clash with the hosts in Guwahati next Wednesday.
Alyssa Healy's side, who defeated India by three wickets in a thrilling group match in Visakhapatnam, will expect to complete their group program with a sixth-straight win and set up another blockbuster between the two pre-tournament favourites.
But India did put up a bit of a statement win as their sorcerer Mandhana and her batting apprentice Rawal, who'd put on 155 against Australia, surpassed even that against the battered Kiwis.
Rawal hit 122 — her maiden World Cup hundred — off 134 balls while Mandhana amassed 109 off 95 deliveries, the duo putting on 212 in 32.2 overs at the DY Patil Stadium.
Jemimah Rodrigues then built on their excellence with 76no off 55 balls as India racked up 3-340 in 49 overs, the 2025 edition's highest score, before rain interruptions reduced the game to a 44-over affair.
New Zealand, chasing a revised total of 325, never looked likely to pull off the win that would have resurrected their hopes, despite Brooke Halliday's impressive 81.
So the White Ferns are out, after three defeats and two rain-hit no-results in six matches, leaving captain Sophie Devine to lament: "We are incredibly disappointed and gutted ... bloody frustrating tournament."
Not for India, though, for whom nothing but victory in their home tournament will do.
"It is a big relief," said Mandhana, the player-of-the-match for her third World Cup hundred and her 14th overall in women's ODIs, putting her second in the all-time list behind Meg Lanning's 15 for Australia.
"The last three games were really tough — we played good cricket, but we did not win. Pratika deserves this award as much as I do, and I am a little surprised. She is a good anchor and allows me to play my natural game."
Put in to bat, their's was only the third instance of a double-century opening stand in women's World Cups, and a first since 1988.
Mandhana got to 50 off 49 balls and made India's first century of the tournament off 88, while Rawal got to her second ODI ton off 122 balls. Rodrigues, promoted to No.3, then responded with a 38-ball half-century.
Rain proved a frustration, with India's innings halted at 49 overs before a further delay caused another lost two hours.
When play finally resumed, India's medium pacers Kranti Gaud (2-48) and Renuka Singh (2-25) proved key.
Georgia Plimmer (30) and Amelia Kerr (45) tried to speed up, but Singh bowled Plimmer in the 10th over and Devine (six) in the 12th, to leave New Zealand 3-59 and effectively out of the hunt despite some late heroics from Halliday and Isabella Gaze (65no), who put on 72 off 64 balls.
