Shafali Verma replaces Pratika Rawal in India's World Cup squad

Shafali Verma has been approved as the replacement for the injured Pratika Rawal in India's World Cup squad for the rest of the tournament, the ICC confirmed on Monday (October 27).

The replacement of a player requires the approval of the Event Technical Committee before being officially added to the squad. The move was necessitated after Rawal slipped and fell awkwardly while fielding near the boundary ropes in the rain-affected league game against Bangladesh in Navi Mumbai which eventually ruled her out of the tournament at a critical stage. It was a significant blow to India ahead of their semifinal clash against Australia at the same venue on Thursday given the fact that she has been one of India's consistent performers in the format ever since she made her debut at the end of last year.

Verma, currently the top-run getter in the ongoing Sr. Women's T20 League, was in Surat at the time of the callup and will be reporting ahead of India's training session on Tuesday in Navi Mumbai. The Haryana captain, incidentally, was the long-time opening partner to Smriti Mandhana before eventually being dropped last year due to inconsistency after the three-match series against New Zealand at Ahmedabad. She's made 341 runs in seven innings for Haryana - including a hundred and two half centuries - at an average of 56.83 and strike rate 182.35.

Picked in the India A squad for the one-off official World Cup 2025 warm-up game against New Zealand, Verma made a brisk 70 off 49 deliveries before to set up a four-wicket win (DLS method) in Bengaluru's CoE.