Twelve months. That’s roughly all it took for Pratika Rawal to walk into international cricket and start tearing up numbers that had Charlotte Edwards’ name stamped on them for two decades. Think about that for a second – a record England’s former captain held since before most of today’s fans were even following the sport, gone, because a twenty-something opener from Delhi decided to bat like she’d been doing this for years. Funny enough, she wasn’t even supposed to be “the cricket one” growing up.
She studied psychology in college. Somewhere between lecture halls and library shifts, she also turned into one of the most reliable run-machines in the women’s game right now. Pair her at the top of the order with Smriti Mandhana and you’ve basically got a nightmare matchup for any bowling attack. She was part of the group that ended India’s long wait for a Women’s Cricket World Cup title in 2025, and then, as if that wasn’t enough for one career arc, she pulled on Test whites for the very first time in 2026, against Australia. Growing up in Delhi, the move across to Railways, what she’s currently doing at UP Warriorz in the WPL, her stats broken down format by format, a bit on her schooling and family, the two injuries that have thrown wrenches into her momentum.
Pratika Rawal Player Profile
| Attribute | Detail |
| Full Name | Pratika Rawal |
| Date of Birth | 1 September 2000 |
| Age | 25 years (as of 2026) |
| Birthplace | Delhi, India |
| Playing Role | Opening batter, off-break bowler |
| Batting Style | Right-handed |
| Bowling Style | Right-arm off-break |
| National Team | India (2024–present) |
| Current WPL Team (2026) | UP Warriorz |
| ODI Debut | 22 December 2024 vs West Indies |
| Test Debut | 6 March 2026 vs Australia |
| Domestic Team | Railways (formerly Delhi) |
| WPL Auction Price (2026 mega auction) | ₹50 lakh |
| Education | Psychology graduate, Jesus and Mary College, Delhi University |
Early Life and Background
Delhi’s home turf for Rawal, and even though no one in her immediate family had actually played the game at a serious level, cricket still hung around the house like background noise you eventually can’t ignore. Her dad, Pradeep Rawal, is a BCCI Level-II certified umpire with the Delhi & District Cricket Association – so bats and stumps weren’t exactly foreign objects in that household. She picked up a bat with actual intent at age ten, back when she was in fourth grade. Not exactly a prodigy-at-three story, but early enough to matter.
Pratika Rawal Age
Pratika Rawal was born on 1 September 2000 in Delhi, which makes her 25 years old as of 2026. At such a young age, she has already carved out a strong place for herself in Indian women’s cricket – within barely a year of her ODI debut in 2024, she broke two-decade-old records held by a legend like Charlotte Edwards, and was also part of the squad that won the 2025 Women’s Cricket World Cup. Given her age, the maturity and consistency she shows in her batting is genuinely impressive — most players at this stage are still just getting their international careers started.
How She Rose Through the Ranks
- Started out under coach Sharvan Kumar at the Rohtak Road Gymkhana Cricket Academy – one of those unassuming neighborhood setups that quietly churns out talent nobody hears about until years later.
- Moved on to train under former cricketer Dipti Dhyani, and later worked with Dishant Yagnik, who coaches Delhi’s women’s side.
- Cricket wasn’t the only sport she was good at, either. She played basketball for Bal Bharati School and walked away with gold at the 64th School National Games in Delhi, back in January 2019.
- Her List A debut for Delhi came in October 2021, and she didn’t waste any time announcing herself – an unbeaten 161 off 155 balls against Assam in that same season.
- The 2023–24 domestic season was a big one for her: 411 runs in 8 matches, averaging 68.50.
- She made her first-class debut for North Zone in April 2024, right around the time she was making the jump from Delhi to Railways.
- December 2024 is when the phone call every young cricketer dreams about finally came – her maiden India call-up, ahead of the ODI series against West Indies.
Pratika Raval Domestic Career
| Years | Team | Notes |
| 2021–2024 | Delhi | List A debut Oct 2021; T20 debut Apr 2022; 411 runs at 68.50 in the 2023–24 season |
| 2024–present | Railways | Moved here just before her international break; still appears for them in the Senior Women’s One Day and T20 Trophies |
| 2024 (Zonal) | North Zone | First-class debut came against East Zone in April 2024 |
| 2026–present | UP Warriorz (WPL) | Bought for ₹50 lakh at the 2026 mega auction, after previously going unsold because of injury-linked bidding conditions |
International Career at a Glance
| Format | Span | Matches | Runs | Average | Top Score |
| WODI | 2024–present | 24 | 1,110 | 50.45 | 154 |
| Test | 2026–present | 1 (debut) | – | – | – |
The Standout Moments of Her International Run
- Her ODI debut landed on 22 December 2024, against the West Indies – which, as a side note, also happened to be India’s 150th women’s ODI cap ever awarded.
- She scored 40 on debut and put on 110 with Mandhana at the top, which in hindsight looks like a preview trailer for what was coming.
- Next innings out, she went even better: 76 runs, plus two wickets with the ball – one of them the scalp of West Indies captain Hayley Matthews. Not a bad follow-up act.
- Her first ODI hundred arrived on 15 January 2025 in Rajkot – 154 against Ireland, an innings that pretty much rewrote her early career trajectory.
- That knock, stacked on top of the ones before it, was enough to knock Charlotte Edwards off a twenty-year-old perch: most runs by any batter in her opening six WODI innings. Rawal’s 444 nudged past Edwards’ 434.
- She also became the fastest player, regardless of nationality, to reach 500 ODI runs – just eight innings.
- Getting to 1,000 ODI runs took her 23 innings, tying the record for the fastest by any Indian batter.
- At the 2025 World Cup, she racked up 308 runs before an injury cut her tournament short – more on that below.
- She and Mandhana also put together a 212-run stand against New Zealand, the single biggest partnership of the entire 2025 World Cup.
- Test cricket followed on 6 March 2026 – debut against Australia, at the WACA in Perth, making her India’s 97th Test cap.
- Through everything, she stayed part of the squad that eventually lifted the 2025 Women’s Cricket World Cup trophy.
Pratika Rawal Stats Across All Formats (Through 2026)
| Metric | Total |
| WODI Matches | 24 |
| WODI Runs | 1,110 |
| WODI Average | 50.45 |
| WODI Centuries / Fifties | 2 / 7 |
| List A Matches | 47 |
| List A Runs | 2,006 |
| List A Average | 57.31 |
| First-Class Matches | 4 |
| First-Class Runs | 257 |
| T20 Matches | 24 |
| T20 Runs | 574 |
| Career-Best Score | 161* (List A) |
| International-Best Score | 154 (ODI) |
| Wickets (WODI) | 6 |
Format-by-Format Batting Numbers
| Format | Matches | Runs | Average | 100s / 50s | Best |
| WODI | 24 | 1,110 | 50.45 | 2 / 7 | 154 |
| First-Class | 4 | 257 | 32.12 | 1 / 1 | 120 |
| List A | 47 | 2,006 | 57.31 | 5 / 13 | 161* |
| T20 | 24 | 574 | 24.95 | 0 / 5 | 76 |
Pratika Rawal Balling Stats
| Competition | Balls | Wickets | Average | Best Figures |
| WODI | 209 | 6 | 31.33 | 2/37 |
| First-Class | 60 | 1 | 26.00 | 1/0 |
| List A | 169 | 4 | 38.00 | 2/37 |
| T20 | 6 | 0 | – | – |
Pratika Rawal Records
- Charlotte Edwards’ old record for most runs across a batter’s first six ODI innings – gone. Rawal’s 444 beat Edwards’ 434.
- Also took Edwards’ record for fastest to 500 ODI runs: eight innings versus Edwards’ nine.
- Joint-fastest Indian to 1,000 ODI runs, needing just 23 innings to get there.
- Third-fastest Indian, by matches played, to score a maiden ODI hundred.
- Only the third Indian woman ever to cross 150 in a single ODI innings – the other two names on that list are Deepti Sharma (188) and Harmanpreet Kaur (171), so she’s in genuinely elite company.
- Shares the record 212-run partnership with Mandhana against New Zealand, still the highest stand of the 2025 World Cup.
- Oh, and a World Cup winner’s medal from 2025, in case that wasn’t obvious by now.
What Makes Her Batting Work
- Her technique is compact and balanced, nothing flashy – she’s described it herself as being built around keeping things simple and clear.
- She rotates the strike really well, and it shows up in how steady her List A and ODI averages have stayed over time.
- Getting a start is one thing, converting it is another – and she does that far more consistently than most, with five List A hundreds and two ODI centuries already banked.
- Her off-spin gives India a genuine bonus at the top of the order, turning her into more of an all-rounder than a straightforward specialist opener.
- She’s sharp in the field too, athletic enough that her catch tallies stand out across formats – though, ironically, that same athleticism has played a part in a couple of her injuries.
- Alongside Mandhana, she’s formed one of the most productive opening pairs anywhere in the current game.
Pratika Rawal Personal Life and Education
Before any of the centuries or record-breaking headlines, Rawal was already doing well for herself academically. She scored 92.5% in her CBSE Class 12 boards at Modern School, Barakhamba Road, then went on to complete a bachelor’s degree in Psychology at Jesus and Mary College, Delhi University.
It’s one of those details that shows up in almost every article written about her – usually trotted out as the reason her batting looks so composed under pressure, like the psychology degree somehow doubles as mental conditioning for opening the innings in international cricket. Fair or not, it’s become part of how her story gets told.
Her Family
| Relation | Name | Details |
| Father | Pradeep Rawal | BCCI-certified Level-II umpire, Delhi & District Cricket Association |
| Coaches | Sharvan Kumar, Dipti Dhyani, Dishant Yagnik | Shaped her through her junior years and domestic career |
Pratika Rawal Injury Update
World Cup injury, October 2025: During India’s group match against Bangladesh at the 2025 World Cup, Rawal went chasing a boundary on an outfield left soggy from earlier rain. She rolled her ankle and picked up a knee injury in that same fall.
- Her tournament ended right there – Shafali Verma came in as her replacement.
- That meant she sat out both the semi-final and the final, the match India ultimately won.
- She was cleared fit again by February 2026, in time for the Australia ODI series.
- A month later, she made her Test debut against the same opposition.
Knee laceration, July 2026: A second injury followed, this time a deep cut on her right knee needing stitches, picked up while playing for India A against England A in Taunton.
- It ruled her out of the historic one-off Test against England at Lord’s.
- Priya Punia stepped into her spot for that squad.
- The team management downplayed it, saying there was nothing long-term to worry about.
How it shaped her WPL auction: Carrying an injury tag into the 2026 WPL mega auction wasn’t ideal, especially with a harsh condition attached – whichever team bought her wouldn’t be allowed a replacement if she couldn’t take the field. That clause spooked franchises enough that she went unsold through the earlier rounds, before UP Warriorz finally snapped her up in the accelerated round for ₹50 lakh.
Who She Plays For Right Now
| Level | Team |
| International | India Women’s national cricket team |
| Domestic | Railways |
| WPL Franchise | UP Warriorz |
| India A | Regular member of touring squads |
How She Compares to India’s Other Top Openers
| Player | WODI Average | WODI Centuries | Style |
| Pratika Rawal | 50.45 | 2 | Compact, high-conversion opener who also bowls off-spin |
| Smriti Mandhana | Higher career tally, longer career | Multiple | Fluent, attacking strokeplay |
| Shafali Verma | Lower average, higher strike rate | Fewer | Aggressive, high-tempo opener |
What really sets her apart is this odd mix – patience of a batter who likes to build an innings brick by brick, combined with the pace of someone constantly rewriting the record books. And she’s doing it at a stage where most players are still figuring things out.
What’s Next for Her
With a World Cup medal, a growing pile of records, and now a Test cap to her name, the obvious question is where she goes from here. A settled place in the WPL with UP Warriorz gives her a regular high-pressure stage outside of international duty, while further Test opportunities will test whether her white-ball game translates to the longer format over time. The bigger challenge, realistically, might just be staying fit – two injuries already in her short career means workload management is likely to be a running theme in whatever comes next.
Read Also: yuzvendra chahal Player Profile | Abhimanyu Easwaran Profile | Shubman Gill Age
Frequently Asked Questions
She was born on 1 September 2000, which makes her 25 as of 2026.
161 not out in List A cricket is her career-best. On the international stage, it’s 154, scored against Ireland.
India Women internationally, Railways in domestic cricket, and UP Warriorz over in the WPL.
She picked up a knee injury in July 2026 that kept her out of the Lord’s Test against England – though the team didn’t consider it serious long-term.
Two of Charlotte Edwards’ long-standing marks: fastest to 500 ODI runs, and most runs in a batter’s opening six WODI innings.
No – injury kept her out of the knockout rounds, though she remained part of India’s title-winning squad throughout.
A bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Jesus and Mary College, Delhi University.
Smriti Mandhana – the two have already built several century-plus opening stands together.
6 March 2026, against Australia, at the WACA in Perth.
Railways currently – she played for Delhi before that, from 2021 through 2024.
Source: WikiPedia
