BCCI springs a shocker, leaves out Pratika Rawal from central contract

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Monday announced the Annual Player Contracts for Senior Women’s India team for the 2024-25 season. The season runs from October 1, 2024 to September 30, 2025.

Delhi’s Pratika Rawal, who made a stellar start to her career as an opener in December, 2024, and over 20-odd days racked up 444 runs in six ODIs at an average of 74 with one century and three fifties, does not find her name in the list that includes Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana and Deepti Sharma in Grade A.

Interestingly, opening batter Shafali Verma who was replaced in the Indian Women’s ODI team by Pratika finds a place in Grade B.

Shafali, who is among four players in the Grade besides Renuka Thakur, Jemimah Rodrigues and Richa Ghosh, has not played a single match for India since October, 2024 and was shown the door due to poor performances. So, she being picked ahead of Pratika is quite surprising. It seems the BCCI gave importance to her performances in Women’s Premier League during which she made four scores in 40s and an 80 not out in nine innings.

Harleen Deol and Minnu Mani too have been left out despite being in the loop. 

Players

Grade A: Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma

Grade B: Renuka Thakur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh, Shafali Verma

Grade C: Yastika Bhatia, Radha Yadav, Shreyanka Patil, Titas Sidhu, Arundhati Reddy, Amanjot Kaur, Uma Chetry, Sneh Rana, Pooja Vastrakar

Tags : Pratika Rawal, BCCI, Harleen Deol, Minnu Mani, Shafali Verma,