Star batsman Pratika Rawal has been added to India’s squad for the three-match ODI series against Australia Women after successfully recovering from an ankle injury. Rawal has completed rehabilitation at the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) Center of Excellence (CoE) and has fully recovered from the injury she sustained in October during the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025.
Previously, Rawal He was expected to return to action in the one-off Test against the same opposition after earning her first call-up in the longest format. He is set to feature in the one-off match against Australia to be played in Perth from March 6-9. However, her return to the Indian side was postponed after her inclusion in the ODI squad.
Rawal has been impressive in his short ODI career so far, amassing 1,110 runs from 24 matches at an average of 50.45, including two hundreds and seven half-centuries. The 25-year-old also played a key role in India’s historic ODI World Cup 2025 triumph on home soil, finishing as the tournament’s second-highest run-scorer.
Rawal was one of India’s standout performers at the 2025 Women’s World Cup, scoring 308 runs in six innings at an average of 51.33, including a must-win century against New Zealand and a vital 75 against Australia. However, her campaign came to an early end when she slipped near the boundary and twisted her ankle in the final group stage match against Bangladesh, knocking her out of the knockout stages.
India lead the T20I series 1-0
Rawal was replaced by Shafali Verma, who scored a match-winning 87 off 78 balls in the final against South Africa, which also earned her the Player of the Match award.
Rawal was selected by UP Warriorz for Women’s Premier League 2026 (WPL 2026) after initially going unsold, was eventually bought in an accelerated round at its base price of 50 thousand rupees. However, due to injury, she could not start the whole season. So far, India lead the three-match T20I series against Australia 1-0 while the ODI leg of the tour begins on February 24.
Updated India squad for ODI series against Australia: Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Smriti Mandhana (VC), Shafali Verma, Renuka Thakur, Sree Charani, Vaishnavi Sharma, Kranti Gaud, Sneh Rana, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (WK), Uma Chetry (WK), Kashvee Gautam, Amanjot Hartika Kaur, Demimes,
– The end
Issued by:
Rishabh Beniwal
Published on:
February 17, 2026