Pratika Rawal earns an Asian Games call-up before India's semi-final against Bangladesh

Pratika Rawal has been added to India's Asian Games squad as Jemimah Rodrigues's replacement, hours before she is expected to bat at No. 3 in the Women's Asia Cup semi-final against Bangladesh

India Women meet Bangladesh Women in the first semi-final of the Women's Asia Cup at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Thursday, the first ball due at 8pm IST. Harmanpreet Kaur's side topped Group A unbeaten with three wins from three, while Bangladesh came through as the second team from Group B.

Rawal's month has been reshaped twice by the same injury. Called into the Asia Cup squad only after Rodrigues tore a hamstring, she has now been named in India's 15-member squad for the Asian Games in Japan.

"Pratika will be travelling to Japan for the Asian Games as Jemimah's replacement," a BCCI source told IANS, confirming the addition a week before India begin the defence of their Asian Games title.

A hamstring tear that reshaped two squads

Rodrigues sustained a right hamstring injury on 3 August while playing for Southern Brave in The Hundred. The BCCI said clinical assessment confirmed a high-grade tear, ruling her out of both the Asia Cup in the UAE and the Asian Games.

Rawal was named her replacement for the Asia Cup in mid-August. The second half of that decision, covering Japan, followed this week.

India go into the knockout stage without one of their first-choice middle-order batters.

Runs still to come at No. 3

Rawal made her T20I debut against Thailand on 30 August, taking her cap from Harmanpreet before India's opening match, and made 22. She followed it with 10 against Hong Kong China and 4 against Pakistan, batting at No. 3 in each match.

That leaves her with 36 runs from three innings in the format, a modest return that owes something to how little India's middle order has been asked to do.

Smriti Mandhana's 124 from 64 balls carried India to 193 for 5 against Hong Kong China on 3 September, and the spinners then bowled the opposition out for 56 to complete a 137-run win.

A semi-final against an attack that has kept totals low in this tournament is a different examination.

The long way back from an ankle injury

The call-up caps a slow return. Rawal had been sidelined since an ankle injury sustained during the 2025 Women's ODI World Cup, and missed the 2026 Women's Premier League season after UP Warriorz bought her for Rs 50 lakh at the auction.

"It actually feels like a privilege to be able to stand here playing all three formats," she said in Dubai during the group stage. "This is what I've always wanted to do as a young kid."

On her approach in the shortest format she was deliberately narrow in focus: "We don't look at opponents. We look at one ball at a time, and we look for areas."

Bangladesh's route to the last four

Nigar Sultana's side lost to Sri Lanka in the group stage but recovered to beat the UAE by 34 runs at the same ground on 8 September, posting 103 for 7 and holding the hosts to 69 for 9.

Sharmin Akhter top-scored with 38 in that match, and Marufa Akter led a bowling effort that has been Bangladesh's most reliable asset in the UAE.

Japan follows in a week

The Asian Games women's cricket competition runs from 17 to 22 September in Aichi-Nagoya, with eight teams entered and India defending the title they won in Hangzhou in 2023.

Harmanpreet captains that squad with Mandhana as her deputy, and Rawal now joins a group that also includes Shafali Verma, Richa Ghosh, Deepti Sharma and Renuka Singh.

India and Bangladesh start at 8pm IST at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, with the winner meeting Pakistan or Sri Lanka in the final.

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