India’s new opening pair of Smriti Mandhana and Pratika Rawal seems to have ended the woes for the team at the top of the order in ODIs. The duo has so far added 701 runs in just six innings so far at an impeccable average of 116.83 crossing the 100-run mark together four times already. Moreover, they have also scored runs at a run rate of 6.94 together.
Women’s cricket has witnessed 168 pairs in its history that have added 500 runs together in ODIs and the Smriti-Pratika duo has scored at the fastest rate among them. Moreover, their average of 116.83 as an opening pair is also the second best only behind Denise Emerson and Jill Kennare who added 629 runs in six innings at an average of 125.8.
Smriti Mandhana has been the vital cog in the Indian line-up and has plundered a lot of runs in the 50-over format since the start of 2024. She has amassed 996 runs in 16 innings at an average of 62.25 and a strike rate of 105.06 with five centuries and four fifties since January 2024.
However, Pratika Rawal’s stunning emergence in the ongoing home season is the biggest positive for Indian cricket. She has already amassed 444 runs in six innings in ODIs at an average of 74 with a century and three fifties with her best score of 154 coming in the third ODI against Ireland Women in Rajkot.
She was included in the ODI squad for the series against the West Indies. She replaced Shafali Verma in the line-up who paid the price for not scoring enough runs in her last 10 innings mustering only 176 runs at a poor average of 17.6 with no fifty-plus score. Overall, Shafali has scored 644 runs in 29 ODIs at a mediocre average of 23 with four fifties.
However, after being dropped from the Indian team, Shafali has gone back to domestic cricket and has been scoring runs for fun. She is the leading run-scorer in the Senior Women’s One-Day Challenger Trophy having accumulated 388 runs in four matches at an average of 97 and a strike rate of 146.96.
Even in the domestic One-Day trophy played in December 2024, the aggressive batter scored 527 runs at an average of 75.28 and a strike rate of 152.31 for Haryana. With Pratika Rawal putting up solid performances on a consistent basis, will Shafali’s effort in domestic cricket be enough to make a comeback?
The ODI World Cup at home is approaching fast with the tournament scheduled to be played in the August-September window and Shafali should make sure she keeps on plundering runs in order to not go down in the pecking order. On the other hand, it is also important for Pratika to keep performing against better teams having started her career on a high
