Jemimah Rodrigues misses the Asian Games due to injury as THIS young Indian batter replaces her in the squadCheck India’s full women’s cricket squad for the Games.
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Pratika Rawal and Smriti Mandhana (Photo: BCCI Women)
Young Indian batter Pratika Rawal has been named in the women’s cricket squad for the 2026 Asian Games in JapanShe replaces Jemimah Rodrigues, who is still recovering from injury.
Jemimah hurt her hamstring while playing for Southern Brave in The Hundred competition early last monthThe same injury also forced her to miss the ongoing Women’s Asia Cup in DubaiShe remains a key middle-order player for India, but the recovery has taken longer than expected.
A BCCI source confirmed the change on Wednesday“Pratika will be travelling to Japan for the Asian Games as Jemimah’s replacementHer name is there in the 15-member squad submitted for the Asian Games,” the source told to IANS.
Pratika’s recent rise and challenges
Pratika made her T20I debut during the Asia Cup and has been batting at the important number three positionIn the league matches so far she has scored 22, 10 and 4The team management will hope she finds better rhythm soon, especially with the semi-final against Bangladesh coming up on Thursday in Dubai.
Her call-up to the national T20 side came as a surpriseAt the time she was getting ready to play for Warwickshire in England’s One Day CupBefore this Asia Cup, Pratika had not played a competitive T20 match since November 2024A serious ankle injury during the 2025 Women’s ODI World Cup match against Bangladesh kept her out for a long period.
That long break also meant she missed the 2026 Women’s Premier LeagueUP Warriorz had bought her for Rs 50 lakh at the auction last year, but she could not take part.
Asian Games schedule and India’s strong position
The women’s cricket event at the 2026 Asian Games will run from September 17 to 22 in Aichi-Nagoya, JapanIndia are the defending championsIn the previous edition they beat Sri Lanka by 19 runs in the final to win gold.
Eight teams will take part this time: India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia and ChinaIndia will look to defend their title with a settled side.
Full Indian Squad for Asian Games 2026:
Harmanpreet Kaur (captain), Smriti Mandhana (vice-captain), Shafali Verma, Pratika Rawal, Bharti Fulmali, Richa Ghosh (wicketkeeper), G Kamalini (wicketkeeper), Deepti Sharma, Radha Yadav, Prema Rawat, Arundhati Reddy, Kranti Gaud, Renuka Singh, N Sree Charani and Nandni Sharma.
