Pratika Rawal Ruled Out Of Women's World Cup, Shafali Verma Named Replacement

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Monday (October 27) confirmed Shafali Verma as Pratika Rawal’s replacement in India’s squad for the remainder of the ICC Women’s ODI World Cup 2025.

25-year-old Pratika, who is the second-highest run-getter in the ongoing eight-team tournament, suffered an ankle injury while fielding on Sunday (October 26) during India’s last league stage match against Bangladesh at DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai.

Due to that injury, she didn’t come out to bat in the run chase for Women in Blue, and on Monday, the BCCI made it official that she will no longer take part in the tournament.

India face massive setback ahead of their #CWC25 semi-final clash against Australia.

Details 👇https://t.co/CU9DFWD05k

— ICC Cricket World Cup (@cricketworldcup) October 27, 2025

Pratika’s injury is a big setback for Team India ahead of their semifinal match against Australia in Navi Mumbai on Thursday (October 31).

Pratika was in red-hot form before getting injured. In India’s sixth league match against New Zealand on October 23, she scored 122 runs in addition to taking one wicket for 19 runs.

Pratika Rawal’s performance in Women’s ODI World Cup 2025

AGAINST	RUNS	BALLS	4/6s	STRIKE RATE	VENUE	DATE
Sri Lanka	37	59	3/1	62.71	Guwahati	September 30
Pakistan	31	37	5/0	83.78	Colombo	October 5
South Africa	37	56	5/0	66.07	Visakhapatnam	October 8
Australia	75	96	10/1	78.12	Visakhapatnam	October 12
England	6	14	1/0	42.85	Indore	October 19
New Zealand	122	134	13/2	91.04	Navi Mumbai	October 23
Bangladesh	Did Not Bat	—	—	—	Navi Mumbai	October 26

She is the joint-fastest batter in the history of women’s cricket to score 1000 runs in ODIs (23 innings) and is second in the list of batters with the most runs in a calendar year in women’s ODIs (976 runs in 21 ODIs played so far in 2025).

Most runs in Women’s World Cup 2025

PLAYER	TEAM	MATCHES	RUNS	BEST	AVERAGE	STRIKE RATE	100/50s	4/6s
Smriti Mandhana	India	7	365	109	60.83	102.52	1/2	40/8
Pratika Rawal	India	7	308	122	51.33	77.77	1/1	37/4
Laura Wolvaardt	South Africa	7	301	90	50.16	89.31	0/3	42/2
Alyssa Healy	Australia	4	294	142	98.00	131.25	2/0	47/3
Sophie Devine	New Zealand	7	289	112	57.80	85.25	1/2	25/5

In Pratika’s absence, Amanjot Kaur opened the innings for India in the rain-hit match against Bangladesh on Sunday, but keeping the big picture in mind, India added Shafali as Rawal’s replacement.

Shafali is India’s first-choice opening batter in T20Is these days, but she has also played 29 one-day matches for Team India. In those 29 ODIs, the 21-year-old right-handed batter from Haryana has amassed a total of 644 runs and also has four half-centuries to her name.

Shafali Verma’s record in ODIs

MATCHES	INNINGS	RUNS	BEST	AVERAGE	STRIKE RATE	100/50	4/6s	WICKETS
29	29	644	71*	23.00	83.20	0/4	82/7	1

It will, however, be interesting to see if the Indian team management decides to draft Shafali straightaway to the playing XI for the clash against Australia or promote Harleen Deol to open the innings with Smriti Mandhana. Harleen’s promotion as opener will allow Jemimah Rodrigues to bat at No. 3, and it will also open the door for the inclusion of a sixth bowling option, possibly Amanjot Kaur or Radha Yadav.

India’s updated squad for ICC Women’s ODI World Cup 2025: Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Smriti Mandhana (VC), Harleen Deol, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (WK), Uma Chetry (WK), Amanjot Kaur, Radha Yadav, Shree Charani, Renuka Singh Thakur, Arundhati Reddy, Kranti Gaud, Sneh Rana, Shafali Verma