Indian batter Shafali Verma has been added to India’s squad for the 2025 ICC Ladies’s ODI World Cup, changing Pratika Rawal forward of the semifinal conflict towards Australia in Navi Mumbai on Thursday. The 21-year-old replaces Rawal, who suffered an ankle damage throughout India’s remaining league stage match towards Bangladesh on Sunday.
Verma, who wasn’t a part of the primary squad or the reserves, has been in excellent kind for Haryana within the Senior Ladies’s T20 Trophy, the place she accrued 341 runs in 9 matches.
Based on an ICC assertion, “The Occasion Technical Committee of the ICC Ladies’s Cricket World Cup 2025 has permitted Shafali Verma as a substitute for Pratika Rawal within the India squad. Verma was named as a substitute after Rawal was dominated out after sustaining an damage to her proper ankle whereas fielding within the league match towards Bangladesh on Sunday.”
The discharge additional added, “The substitute of a participant requires the approval of the Occasion Technical Committee earlier than the substitute participant could be formally added to the squad.”
Who’s Shafali?
Verma has represented India in 29 ODIs, scoring 644 runs at a median of 23, together with 4 half-centuries, with a career-best rating of 71 not out. Her final ODI look got here towards New Zealand in Ahmedabad in October 2024. The precise-hander was additionally a part of India’s squad throughout the 2022 ODI World Cup in New Zealand, the place the workforce exited within the league stage.
Through the 2025 World Cup squad announcement, former ladies’s choice committee chairperson Neetu David had harassed that Shafali remained an integral a part of India’s long-term plans. “Shafali Verma may be very a lot a part of our system. Proper now, she is taking part in in Australia, however we’re maintaining a tally of her. The thought is that the extra she performs, the extra expertise she good points, and that may assist India sooner or later, particularly within the 50-over format,” David had stated.
India had 4 different reserve choices to select from; Tejal Hasabnis, Prema Rawat, Priya Mishra, and Sayali Satghare.
Earlier within the event, Uma Chetry, who made her ODI debut towards Bangladesh on Sunday, was introduced into the squad after Yastika Bhatia suffered a knee damage simply weeks earlier than the World Cup. started. Verma’s inclusion comes at a vital time as India put together for his or her high-stakes semifinal towards defending champions Australia, with a spot within the remaining on the road.