India women’s cricket team have made three changes to their playing XI for the ICC Women’s World Cup 2025 semi-final clash against Australia Women on Thursday. Harmanpreet Kaur and co. will be without the services of their second leading run-getter in the tournament – Pratika Rawal – as she was ruled out after suffering knee and ankle injuries in the previous game. Shafali Verma replaces her in the XI while Uma Chetry and and Harleen Deol have also been rested.
India Women playing XI vs Australia, World Cup 2025 semis
Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Amanjot Kaur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur(c), Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh(w), Radha Yadav, Kranti Gaud, Shree Charani, Renuka Singh Thakur
Pratika’s unfortunate injury in the previous game forced the selectors to name Shafali as her replacement. The opener, who has amassed 644 runs from 29 WODIs, last played a 50-over format game over a year ago in October 2024. It remains to be seen if India’s gamble on Verma will pay off.
Meanwhile, India have decided to bring in Krati Gaud and Richa Ghosh in place of Uma and Harleen.
“We were looking to bat first, if we get early breakthrough that would be great for us. We know this pitch, we had so many camps here and also played our last 2 games here. Whenever we play Australia, we talk about going with a fearless mindset. Unfortunately, Pratika is not there because of her injury. Shafali comes in for her. Richa and Kranti are back for Uma and Harleen,” Harmanpreet Kaur said at the toss.
Australia Women have won the toss and have decided to bat first in the Women’s World Cup 2025 semi-final 2 in Navi Mumbai. The visitors made one change to their playing XI, with Sophie Molineux replacing Wareham.
