Women's World Cup: Pratika Rawal ruled out of semifinal due to ankle fracture, India search for opening options

Eight years ago, Indian women’s cricket became front-page news thanks to a famous World Cup semi-final victory against Australia. Harmanpreet Kaur, who starred with an unbeaten 115-ball 171, is the captain now, but her team’s chances of repeating that upset suffered a huge blow on Monday morning. Pratika Rawal, whose 308 runs made her the second-highest run-scorer in the competition – behind India’s own Smriti Mandhana – was ruled out because of a ‘several ankle sprain with fracture’.

Pratika sustained the injury while fielding on the boundary in the last group game against Bangladesh, which was eventually abandoned due to rain in Mumbai. Ahead of the semi-final against unbeaten Australia at the same venue on Thursday, India face the onerous task of replacing the opening combination that has been their biggest strength.

Smriti and Pratika are by far the most successful opening combination that India have ever had, with seven century stands and eight others over 50 in just 23 games. In India’s cricket history, only Mithali Raj and Punam Raut have combined for as many three-figure partnerships. The Smriti-Pratika average of 78.21 is also unmatched.

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Pratika had faced considerable criticism in the opening weeks of the tournament for her failure to convert starts – 37 v Sri Lanka, 31 v Pakistan and 37 v South Africa – and also the struggle to rotate strike effectively. But she rebounded to score 75 against Australia (96 balls) and a wonderfully composed 122 (134 balls) in the must-win game against New Zealand.

With Pratika ruled out, it remains to be seen who India choose to partner Smriti. Amanjot Kaur did the job against Bangladesh, but India will most likely opt to promote a specialist from within the ranks. “The first option could be promoting No. 3, Harleen [Deol], since she's often walked in early and is comfortable facing the new ball,” said Mithali Raj, former India captain, on a post-game show on Sunday. “The other option is Uma Chetry, but if Richa Ghosh returns as wicketkeeper, then Uma might sit out.”

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Chetry opened in the warm-up matches against England and New Zealand but the 23-year-old is inexperienced at the highest level. Harleen has made 169 runs in the tournament, but has also been criticsed for her strike-rate (75) and rotation of strike.

The left-field option could be Jemimah Rodrigues, who returned to form with a sparkling 55-ball 76 not out against New Zealand. As a partnership, she and Smriti average 40.94, with three hundred stands from 18 innings. Both are exceptional at piercing the field, and could provide the fast start necessary to rattle an intimidating Australian line-up.

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