Women's World Cup 2025: Shafali Verma replaces Pratika Rawal in India's squad ahead of knockouts

The Event Technical Committee of the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025 has approved Shafali Verma as a replacement for Pratika Rawal in the India squad.

Verma was named as a replacement after Rawal was ruled out after sustaining an injury to her right ankle while fielding in the league match against Bangladesh on Sunday, October 26. India's next clash is against Australia in the second semi-final on Thursday, October 30, in Navi Mumbai.

The replacement of a player requires the approval of the Event Technical Committee before the replacement player can be officially added to the squad. The Event Technical committee of the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025 consists of Wasim Khan (Chair, ICC General Manager - Cricket), Gaurav Saxena (ICC General Manager – Events & Corporate Communications), Abey Kuruvilla (BCCI Tournament Director), and Mel Jones (Independent nominee).

"The manner in which she fell, it became clear that she would not be available for the knockout games. It is very unfortunate," a Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) source was quoted as saying by Outlook.

While Verma is an experienced campaigner, Rawal's absence is a major setback for the Women in Blue because of the red-hot form she was in. The 25-year-old is the second-highest run-getter in the tournament, having amassed 308 runs from six innings at an average of 51.33 and a strike rate of 77.77. In her last innings with the bat, the 25-year-old scored 122 off 134 balls, hitting 13 fours and two sixes. She had forged a 155-run opening partnership with Smriti Mandhana against Australia in the league-stage fixture in Visakhapatnam.

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Meanwhile, Verma has played 29 ODIs, scoring 644 runs at an average of 23 and a strike rate of 83.20. She hasn't played ODI cricket since October 2024. It will be interesting to see whether Verma is directly slotted into the playing XI or India opt for Amanjot Kaur to open with Mandhana, like in the last game against Bangladesh.