A big change has emerged for the Indian women’s cricket team. Let us tell you that Shafali Verma has been included in the team for the semi-finals of the 2025 Women’s World Cup against Australia. She got this opportunity when Shafali, who was not included in the initial 15-man squad or the reserves, was called in place of Pratika Raval, who was recently ruled out due to an ankle injury.
As per the current information, 21-year-old Shafali has been selected by the team over Tejal Hasabani, who was present as a reserve batsman for the World Cup. It is noteworthy that Shafali was not included in the main squad announced in August because the selectors gave priority to continuity over X-factor. Shafali did not play any match for the Indian ODI team after October 2024, but she has been active in the 50-over format with India A. He scored 52 against Australia A in Brisbane in August and 70 against New Zealand A in Bengaluru in September.
Additionally, Shafali scored 527 runs in the home ODI series for Haryana in December 2024, with an average of 75.28 and a strike rate of 152.31. He also played a top-scoring inning of 197 runs in 115 balls against Bangladesh. After this, she performed brilliantly for Delhi Capitals in WPL 2025 and became the fourth highest run scorer and highest run scorer of the Indian batsman this season by scoring 304 runs.
After the absence of Pratika Raval in the ongoing World Cup, Shafali can play directly in the semi-finals. It is noteworthy that the opening partnership of Raval and Smriti Mandhana has been important in taking the team to the semi-finals. Raval played important innings of 75 and 122 runs in six matches at an average of 51.33.
Pratika Raval suffered an ankle injury while fielding against Bangladesh in her last league match. After this injury he did not bat and Amanjot Kaur opened in his place. The match could not end with any result.
As an alternative, if Shafali does not play directly in the opening, then the team can open with Harleen Doull or Amanjot Kaur. Apart from this, Uma Chettri and Jemimah Rodrigues are also opening options. The ICC Event Technical Committee on Monday evening approved Shafali’s inclusion in the squad which also includes Wasim Khan, Gaurav Saxena, Abe Kuruvilla and Mel Jones. Shafali is now involved in India’s semi-final preparations.