MUMBAI, Oct. 24 -- The batting heroics of Smriti Mandhana, Pratika Rawal and Jemimah Rodrigues gave India an advantage that they did not relinquish in their all-important ICC Women's ODI World Cup game against New Zealand at the DY Patil Stadium on Thursday. Powered by hundreds from their openers and a statement-making unbeaten 76 (55 balls) from local player Jemimah, the home side scored 340 runs to dominate their penultimate league match from the word go and romp home to a 53-run win (by DLS method) and power into the semi-finals of the tournament. India have three wins ahead of their final group game against Bangladesh. And NZ, even if they win on Sunday against England, will only get up to two wins. Sri Lanka, the other team on six points, has just one win ahead of their final game. And, according to tournament rules, the number of wins takes precedence over NRR. There were two rain breaks towards the end of the first half of the game but when they gathered in a huddle waiting for the play to resume, the Indian women were all smiles and cracking jokes, knowing well that they had given themselves the best chance of advancing. Having lost just three wickets on way to a total of 340, the DLS method calculation was going to favour the home side. New Zealand had such wretched luck in this tournament with two washouts against teams, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, they were expected to beat, were again at the receiving end of the rain gods as their revised target of 325 in 44 overs made the task tougher. After losing early wickets, their chase never took off and the innings limped to 271/8. Brooke Halliday played a lone hand of 81 (84 balls) before being the sixth batter out in the 39th over. The manner in which India started cautiously, grafting to 40 off 10 overs, under the bright, harsh sun, it gave no inkling of the storm that was about to hit the New Zealanders at Navi Mumbai. Cricket fans had turned out in large numbers to support the home team, with the official number of 23,756 being the highest attendance ever for a Women's World Cup group game, and the home crowd at the Nerul stadium sure had their fill. After the opening pair overcame the nervous start, they treated the fans to a dazzling show of strokeplay. The left-handed Mandhana powered to 109 off 95 balls (10 fours, four sixes) while Rawal scored a delectable 122 off 132 balls (14 fours, 2 sixes) as they added 212 runs in a record-breaking partnership. It is the highest partnership ever for India in World Cup history and highest partnership across teams in this World Cup. At the innings break, the Indian women wore a relaxed look but there was no hiding from the pressure they were feeling at the start of the game, knowing a defeat could deliver a knock-out blow to their World Cup hopes. Being in superb form with back-to-back fifties (80 and 88), Mandhana provided the inspiration her teammates were looking for. The advantage with the stylish batter is the big shots she can play along with the drives along the ground and the late cuts to pierce the gaps. She had promised to convert her start into a big innings and she duly obliged with India's first century this World Cup, reaching the three-figure mark with a drive down to sweeper cover, off 88 balls -- her 14th hundred in ODIs. India were flying at that stage with the total reading 191/0 in 30.3 overs. In Pratika, Smriti has discovered an ideal opening partner -- the former is content to play second fiddle and that allows the vice-captain to take centrestage with her big hitting. It was their fourth 150-plus stand in Women's ODIs, joint-most by any pair, alongside Belinda Clark-Lisa Keightley and Suzie Bates-Amy Satterthwaite. Pratika played at her own pace and was on 76 when Smriti reached her hundred. The batter from Delhi duly completed her century also, getting to the mark off 122 balls. Harmanpreet didn't need to do much with the bat, but most of her moves as captain worked. It was not a straightforward decision to go in with five bowlers and bring in an extra batter, but Jemimah repaid the faith. From a personal point of view too, the game was important for the batter from Mumbai as she was left out of the playing 11 in the previous match. Given a chance in the crucial game, she proved equal to the task. After the exit of Mandhanna at the total of 212, it was important for India to keep the momentum going. Promoted to No 3 in place of Harleen Deol, the experienced player added 76 runs in 58 balls with the well-set Pratika for the second wicket and 48 runs off 35 balls with Harmanpreet. She raced to her 50 off 38 balls (7 fours) and helped India touch the 300-run mark in the 45th over. Leaving out Amonjot Kaur was also a tough call given she is handy with the bat in the lower order compared to Renuka Thakur. After Renuka bowled four fruitless overs from the Press Box end, her captain switched her ends. The new-ball exponent struck two telling blows by clean bowling opener Plimmer and the in-form Sophie Devine for figures of 2-0-6-2 in her first two overs from the Pavilion End. The early blows ensured that the chase never took off....