Shafali Verma was not picked in India’s squad for the Women’s ODI World Cup 2025 due to her inconsistent run and Pratika Rawal’s stellar form. Meanwhile, Shafali has been named as a replacement for the injured Rawal ahead of the World Cup semifinal against Australia.
India have named Shafali Verma as a replacement for the injured Pratika Rawal in the squad ahead of their World Cup 2025 semifinal clash against Australia on Thursday, October 30. Rawal had picked up a freak injury while fielding during India’s last group stage clash against Bangladesh.
Rawal twisted her ankle and also hurt her knee while trying to save a boundary in the 21st over of the rain-curtailed 27-over per side clash in Navi Mumbai. As per a BCCI source, Rawal is out of the knockouts due to the injury. “The manner in which she fell, it became clear that she would not be available for the knockout games.
Meanwhile, Verma has been named as her replacement ahead of the semifinal. The replacement of a player requires the approval of the Event Technical Committee before the replacement player can be officially added to the squad.
Verma was not picked in India’s squad for the World Cup as India went with the consistency of Rawal over the X factor of Verma, who had also been struggling for runs of late. However, Shafali is in good form in the domestic circuit and is likely to make her way into the team and open straightaway in the semifinal.
Despite not having played an ODI since October 2024, she has been among the runs for India A and Haryana sides. She madeย 52 and 70 against Australia A and against New Zealand A, respectively. She also scoredย 527 runs in the domestic one-dayers for Haryana at an average of 75.28 and a strike rate of 152.31 last year in December 2024.
Rawal twisted her ankle while trying to stop a boundary at deep mid-wicket. She was grimacing in pain and had to be taken off the field, and did not open the batting with Smriti Mandhana in the chase. Amanjot Kaur came to open in place of Rawal in the rain-marred game, which ended with the teams sharing a point each.
Rawal has been a star batter for India since making her debut in December 2024. She became the joint fastest woman in the world to score 1000 runs in ODIs, achieving the feat in just 23 innings. She has also forged a very strong partnership with Mandhana at the top.ย Rawal and Mandhana have the most runs as a pair for India for the opening wicket with 1799 runs in 23 innings.