Big blow for Team India: Pratika Rawal ruled out of Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025; Shafali Verma makes ODI comeback

Team India have named Shafali Verma as a replacement for Pratika Rawal, who has been ruled out of the ongoing ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025.

Rawal scored 308 runs in six innings at an average of 51.33. Rawal became the tournament’s second-highest run-getter after Smriti Mandhana (365 runs). The 25-year-old’s performance sealed India’s semi-final spot in the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025.

Rawal scored a scintillating 122 off 134 balls against New Zealand. Her 212-run partnership with Smriti Mandhana (109 off 95 balls) was the highest feat by an Indian pair. They played together for more than 33 overs.

However, she twisted her ankle during the final group-stage match against Bangladesh in Navi Mumbai. While she could not bat in the rain-hit game, Pratika was in outstanding form before the injury.

Pratika Rawal is relatively new to world cricket. She made her debut in December 2024. Since then, Rawal has amassed 1,110 runs in 23 innings at an average of 50.45. She has already scored two centuries, with the highest score being 154 against Ireland.

Pratika Rawal’s injury helps Shafali Verma make a comeback to ODI cricket after a year. The 21-year-old recently impressed in the T20I series against England. She also hit a half-century for India A in Australia.

Under Shafali Verma’s captaincy, India won the 2023 Under-19 Women’s T20 World Cup. Before that, in June 2021, she became the youngest cricketer to represent India in all three formats of international cricket. In October 2022, she became the youngest player to complete 1,000 runs in T20 Internationals.

Since her debut in ODIs in 2021, Shafali Verma has scored 644 runs in 29 innings, with a strike rate of 83.20. She was dropped from India’s ODI team in November 2024 due to inconsistent performances. Next month, Pratika Rawal had her ODI debut.

Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana

There is every possibility that Shafali Verma will open India’s batting against Australia along with Smriti Mandhana. These two have played a major role in India’s success in recent years.

They hold the record for the most partnership runs in Women’s T20I history. Together, they have scored 2,727 runs in 79 innings, with 21 fifty-plus partnerships.

In Test cricket, they created history with a 292-run opening partnership against South Africa.

India squad in ICC Women’s World Cup 2025

Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Smriti Mandhana (VC), Shafali Verma, Harleen Deol, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (WC), Uma Chetry (WC), Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Amanjot Kaur, Radha Yadav, Shree Charani, Renuka Singh Thakur, Arundhati Reddy, Kranti Gaud