Shafali Verma in India’s WC squad as Pratika Rawal ruled out with the ankle injury suffered on the field against Bangladesh.
Shafali Verma replaces injured Pratika Rawal in India’s World Cup squad.
Pratika Rawal, who is sidelined due to an ankle injury, has been replaced by Shafali Verma, who was not initially included in either the main 15 or the reserves for India’s Women’s World Cup roster. The 21-year-old Shafali is available for India’s October 30 semi-final matchup with Australia.
She was chosen by the selectors instead of Tejal Hasabnis, the lone batter in India’s World Cup reserves.
Because the selectors valued consistency over X-factor, Rawal was chosen as Smriti Mandhana’s opening partner when the World Cup roster was revealed in August, leaving Shafali out. Shafali has participated with India A in the 50-overs format but hasn’t played ODIs for India since October 2024. In August, she scored 52 against Australia A in Brisbane, and in September, she scored 70 against New Zealand A in Bengaluru.
In the domestic one-dayers for Haryana in December 2024, Shafali also amassed 527 runs at an average of 75.28 and a strike rate of 152.31, including a top score of 197 off 115 balls against Bengal. After that, she had an incredible WPL 2025 season for the Delhi Capitals, scoring 304 runs at a strike rate of 152.76 to become the most prolific Indian batter and the fourth-highest run scorer of the season.
Shafali could immediately enter the starting lineup for the semi-final match against Australia in Rawal’s place. Mandhana and Rawal’s early combination was essential to India’s advancement to the semifinals. They have played in two of the top five batting partnerships in the competition thus far: 155 against Australia and 212 against New Zealand.
India may start Harleen Deol or Amanjot against Australia if Shafali is not immediately included in the starting lineup. Other options are Jemimah Rodrigues, who has opened eighteen times in ODI cricket, and Uma Chetry, who opened in the warm-up match against New Zealand and played the match against Bangladesh with regular wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh out due to a niggle.
The Event Technical Committee authorised Shafali’s entry on Monday night, according to an ICC release. Mel Jones is an independent nominee, Abey Kuruvilla is the director of the BCCI tournament, Gaurav Saxena is the general manager of events and corporate communications for the ICC, and Wasim Khan is the chair and general manager of cricket for the ICC.