Big shock to the Indian team before the Lord’s match, star opener is out of the team, the coach revealed in the press conference.

New Delhi. The last few months have been very difficult for Pratika Rawal. This star batsman, who made a great start to her women’s ODI career, has now had to be ruled out of the historic Lord’s Test between India and England. She was supposed to open the innings with Smriti Mandhana, but will miss the match due to injury.

Indian women’s team head coach Amol Majumdar has announced that Delhi’s Priya Punia will replace Raval in this one-off Test match, which will start from July 10. Due to this, Pratika Raval was injured during the World Cup and she had to leave the team in the middle of the tournament.

Priya Punia replaced Rawal

Both Priya Punia and Pratika Raval were part of the India A team that played against England A recently. Under the captaincy of Harleen Deol, India A won the 50 over series 2-1 in spectacular fashion. Pratika had played the first two matches, but did not participate in the third match. There is a possibility that she got injured even before the third match, due to which she is now out of the test. Whereas Priya Punia played all three matches and started the innings every time. He performed brilliantly and scored 171 runs at an average of 57.00, which included innings of 87 and 61 runs in the last two matches. BCCI chose Punia because he is in excellent form, is an opener like Raval and is already present in England. In such a situation, the hassle of visa and other arrangements can also be avoided.

Priya got the prize

Recently, Priya Punia also participated in the Women’s Delhi Premier League auction, where she was bought by South Delhi Superstars for Rs 5 lakh. Punia got a place in the team for the New Zealand tour for the first time and made his T20 International debut on 6 February 2019. In the same year he also made his ODI debut against South Africa. Although she has not been a part of the Indian team since December 2024, but this opportunity can prove to be a big comeback for her. This is another setback for Pratika Rawal. She was also out during the Women’s ODI World Cup 2025 due to injury in the middle of the tournament. After this, she made a brilliant comeback through the WACA Test, but just as she was regaining her rhythm, injury once again ruled her out. This is a tough phase for one of India’s most talented young players.