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World Cup: Pratika Rawal injures ankle in rain-hit match
Pratika Rawal overran the ball charging to her left at the midwicket boundary and seemed to have twisted her ankle after a nasty fall
Navi Mumbai: Captain Harmanpreet Kaur put her hands on her head. Almost every player in blue rushed towards the midwicket boundary. In a game where the DY Patil Stadium DJ got more of a workout than players out in the middle due to unseasonal heavy rain, an injury scare to Pratika Rawal became the most significant event for the co-hosts of the Women’s World Cup pm Sunday evening.
In their last group stage match against Bangladesh that was inconsequential and interrupted by two lengthy rain pauses in Navi Mumbai, the Indian team walked out with a no result.
More concerning for them, though, was the sight of their in-form opener hobbling away in the 22nd over of the Bangladesh innings and three days prior to the semi-final against Australia.
Pratika overran the ball charging to her left at the midwicket boundary, jammed her right ankle to the ground while halting her momentum, and twisted it. That uncovered part of the ground had soaked in plenty of rain throughout the evening.
After the fall, Pratika lay there for a long time around her concerned teammates. A stretcher was brought out before she got up by herself and was helped off the field by members of the support staff.
The young opener scored a magnificent century on the same ground in the previous match against New Zealand and has strung together solid foundations alongside Smriti Mandhana at the top of the order in this tournament.
A Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) statement said Pratika injured “her knee and ankle” and that the medical team was “closely monitoring her progress”.
In India’s 27-over chase of 126, Pratika did not come out to bat. Smriti was accompanied by Amanjot Kaur, and the duo notched up 57 in 8.4 overs with Smriti, centurion from the previous match, again looking in fine touch in her 27-ball unbeaten 34. Another spell of showers then ended the match.
It was that kind of a stop-start day. There was a lot more happening at the toss than for a couple of hours that followed when the heavens opened up. Harmanpreet won the toss for a change -- the first time in this World Cup -- and India rang in three changes, choosing to rest players over fielding their best combination and building momentum heading into the knockout Australia clash. So, out went Kranti Gaud, Sneh Rana and Richa Ghosh and in came the recalled Amanjot, debutant Uma Chetry and Radha Yadav.
Earlier, when play began as a 43-over match due to the two-hour delay, Renuka Singh dangled a carrot short and wide after a few inswingers that Sumaiya Akter slashed straight to short third.
Deepti Sharma was given the new ball and the off-spinner did a good job of it as well. She kept things tight and got left-handed Rubya Haider Jhelik holed out at mid-off.
Another downpour after 12 overs took players away for another lengthy period. After they returned for a further truncated 27-over contest, left-arm spinner Radha bowled a fine spell of 3/30 and Bangladesh batters lost a flurry of wickets. However, Pratika’s injury scare eclipsed everything else that happened on this gloomy day.
