Pratika repays faith with century in must-win match

If you watch her play a few overs, it is clear Pratika Rawal has the makings of a fine batter. Apart from her compact technique, she gets into g00d positions to play her strokes with a square drive to die for.

- Sanjjeev K Samyal

But when you are competing with the world’s best playing the World Cup, it’s about more than technical skills. It's about whether you have the ability to play freely when the pressure is on, have the game awareness and the ability to shift gears. Despite an impressive start to her career, in the I] months she has been playing international cricket, the 25-year-old stylish opening batter was yet to earn confidence as an impact player. To achieve that, she had to come up with big scores in big games under pressure.

In the tournament, Rawal had got starts in the first three games with 30-plus scores and contributed in a massive 155-run opening partnership with Smriti Mandhana against Australia. But these performances didn’t count for much because the team lost three matches in a row.

During the ongoing ICC Women’s World Cup, she has been counted on as a support cast to the main batters Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur and Richa Ghosh. Yet despite the promise and technique, she is still a work in progress. Too many dot balls is one of the criticisms often aimed at her and Harleen Deol.