The India Women’s team gets a major blow ahead of the ICC Women’s ODI World Cup semi-finals. Their opener, Pratika Rawal, who suffered a broken ankle in their final group-stage match against Bangladesh Women on Sunday, October 26, 2025, has now been ruled out of the competition. India will be without their opening batter in the upcoming crucial game against Australia Women in the semis.
The rain hit, and the match between Bangladesh and India ended in no result. The match was played in limited overs (27 in each innings). With India winning the toss, Bangladesh started the first innings and set up a target score of 119 runs. India Women, however, took down nine wickets with sharp bowling coming from Radha Yadav, who took three and one catch. Harleen Deol took some brilliant catches.
The Indian women’s duo of Smriti Mandhana and Amanjot Kaur were the opening batters of the second innings and managed to get 57 runs on the scoreboard in 8.4 overs until rain interrupted the match in between. The game could not continue further, and both the batters left the field undefeated with Mandhana’s 34 off 27 and Amanjot’s 15 off 25.
Rawal ended up hurting herself while attempting to stop a ball that was coming towards the mid-wicket and somehow got slipped by the pitch and twisted her ankle badly. The injury, however, has cost her elimination from playing further in the tournament.
The opening batter has played a major role in India Women’s batting line-up throughout the tournament. In the six matches played, not adding the one against Bangladesh, she managed to get a total of 308 runs, averaging at 51.33, with a strike rate of 77.77, including two half-centuries and one century in the tournament. In the match against Australia Women, she scored 75, followed by her first century, which came during their match against New Zealand Women played on October 23, 2025, including one wicket.
Joining her compatriot Mandhana, Rawal recently became the fastest women’s player to score 1000 runs in WODIs.
Without their opening batter, India’s battle against the defending champions will be a major one. They also have to find a replacement for Rawal. To join Mandhana as an opening batter, names like Amanjot and Harleen are coming into question, but the final call is yet to be made by the Indian team.
India Women have their semi-final game against Australian women scheduled on October 30, which will be played in Navi Mumbai. If they succeed in defeating the defending champions, they will be a step closer to their maiden World Cup title by qualifying for the final game.
