Pratika Rawal

Pratika Rawal emerged as a polished and assured opener for India in the mid-2020s, combining technically sound strokeplay with a calm temperament, solid footwork, disciplined defence, and an ability to accelerate. She made a strong start to her India career, scoring over 600 runs at an average a little shy of 70 in her first ten ODIs, against West Indies, Ireland, Sri Lanka and South Africa.

Her second ODI hundred came in the win-or-die game against New Zealand in the home World Cup of 2025. At that point, she was the tournament's leading run-scorer, with 308 runs from seven games, but she twisted her ankle in the rained-off game against Bangladesh and missed out on playing the final, which India won (though her team-mates wheeled her out to take part in the festivities on field with them).

Rawal began playing cricket at ten and made it to Delhi Under-19s at 14, but it wasn't until 2020 that she chose cricket over basketball - the latter was a sport she played at the national level and won a gold medal in, at the School National Games in January 2019. She went on to take a Bachelor's in psychology.

In her first season in first-class cricket, she made 120 in a draw in the Senior Women's Challenger Trophy, and an unbeaten 161 in her fifth List A game for Delhi, against Assam in November 2021. She then moved to the Railways side ahead of the 2024-25 season.