Australia beat India to book World Cup semi-final spot

Tournament favourites Australia staged a record run chase to beat India by six wickets and book a spot in the semi-finals of the Women's World Cup with a fifth win from five matches on Saturday.

India, who lost the toss and were put in to bat, posted an imposing 277 for seven at Auckland's Eden Park on the back of half centuries from Yastika Bhatia, skipper Mithali Raj and Harmanpreet Kaur.

Rachael Haynes and Alyssa Healy responded with an opening stand of 121 runs, however, and captain Meg Lanning chipped in with 97 to help Australia safely to 280-4 despite a short rain interruption.

"It was a ripper wicket and to come away with a win against an excellent team is really good for the group," said Lanning.

"We want to keep getting better every game ... we'll take the win today but know that there are things we need to improve on."

The previous highest successful chase at a Women's World Cup was the 258 Australia scored to beat Sri Lanka in the 2017 tournament in England.

The victory ensured the six-times World Cup winners will finish in the top four of the opening round standings to secure a place in the semi-finals ahead of their last two group matches against South Africa and Bangladesh.

India must now win their final group matches against the same two teams to keep alive their hopes of reaching the last four.

(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)