NAVI MUMBAI: India opener Pratika Rawal is set to be ruled out of the rest of the Women’s Cricket World Cup after suffering an injury on the field during the clash against Bangladesh on Sunday. It remains to be seen who India name as the replacement ahead of the semifinal against Australia on Thursday.
Pratika, while fielding during the Bangladesh innings in a rain-affected match, landed badly and injured her ankle. She fell flat in pain and limped off the field with the support of teammates and support staff. In her absence, Amanjot Kaur opened the batting with Smriti Mandhana during the chase before rain intervened again. The match was eventually called off.
Shortly after the on-field incident, the BCCI gave the following update: ̌Team India all-rounder Pratika Rawal sustained an injury to her knee and ankle while fielding in the 1st innings against Bangladesh. The BCCI Medical Team is closely monitoring her progress.”
However, it has been reliably learnt that the Delhi batter is ruled out of the tournament. This comes as a massive blow to the Indian team who will take on Australia in the second semifinal at the DY Patil Stadium on Thursday. Rawal, who has scored a record 976 runs this year, hit a century against New Zealand and helped India seal the semifinal qualification.
In her absence, it will be interesting to see if the team management promotes Harleen Deol as opener while bringing in Amanjot Kaur in the middle-order or draft in a specialist batter from the reserves. The stand-bys for the Indian team are Tejal Hasabnis, Prema Rawat, Priya Mishra, Minnu Mani, and Sayali Satghare.
Among them, Tejal is the only specialist batter and she is in Surat representing Maharashtra in the senior women’s T20 knockouts. Meanwhile, Shafali Verma is also in Surat, leading Haryana and it would be interesting to see whether the BCCI drafts in the explosive opener in place of Pratika rather than Tejal.
Irrespective of who comes in, it will be a massive challenge to fill the shoes of Pratika and rise to the occasion against a team like Australia in the all-important semifinal clash on Thursday at the same venue.
