Shafali's rise 'opens' up an exciting duel with Pratika

The 21-year-old's rousing comeback as Pratika rebuilds should give the India women's white-ball team great options

- Ashish Magotra

One of the saddest sights in India’s ODI World Cup triumph in November was opener Pratika Rawal, who got injured while fielding in the last league match against Bangladesh, not getting a medal.

She was replaced by Shafali Verma in the playing XI and the 21-year-old went on to put in a Player-of-the-Match performance in the final, shining with the bat and ball.

Now, in the T20I series against Sri Lanka, Shafali has continued her rich vein of form to almost single-handedly lift the batting load. Her knocks of 69* (in the 2nd T20I) and 79* (in the third T20I) showed just how dangerous she can be when she has her head screwed on right. In fact, on current form, she should be undroppable across formats.

So, while Pratika did eventually get her winner’s medal (thanks to some public pressure and ICC president Jay Shah), whether or not she gets her place back in the playing eleven is anybody's guess. The team management values the intelligence and the stability the opener brings to the top of the order. But she doesn’t have the firepower to match an on-song Shafali.