Their 114-run stand is the third-highest opening stand against Australia in women's ODI cricket.
India openers Smriti Mandhana and Pratika Rawal have continued their dominance, recording yet another 100-run partnership for the first wicket in the ongoing IND-W vs AUS-W 1st ODI on Sunday, September 14. The duo notched up a 114-run partnership off just 129 balls, sharing the load equally. Their 114-run stand is the third-highest opening stand against Australia in the format, after 119 between Caroline Atkins and Sarah Taylor (Chelmsford, 2009) and 115 between Hayley Matthews and Kycia Knight (Sydney, 2014).
This also marked their first-ever century stand for the first wicket against Australia in 50-over format. With this, the pair have now equalled the records for most 100+ run partnerships for India (five), jointly held by former openers Anju Jain and Jaya Sharma and Karuna Jain and Jaya Sharma.
Shafali Verma, who was considered as India’s permanent partner to Mandhana, had a disappointing year 2024. She managed to score just 108 runs in six innings, averaging a poor 18 without any fifty or a hundred. This forced India to look for options with the ODI World Cup 2025 approaching quickly and they might have found a gem in Pratika Rawal.
The 25-year-old, who received her maiden ODI cap in December last year, has already scored 767 runs in just 15 innings since her debut, averaging 58.92 at a strike rate of 85.39 with the help of a hundred and six fifties. Rawal holds the record for second most consecutive fifties by Indian in ODI cricket after former skipper Mithali Raj with seven fifties in 2017.
The Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur highlighted the importance of Rawal in India’s current ODI setup while agreeing to Shafali’s downfall in the pre-match press conference ahead of the first ODI against Australia.
“Whenever Shafali is with us, the team gets extra motivation because if she bats well, we usually win. But at the same time, Pratika has shown great talent and confidence in such a short time. She brings stability, has started well, and we are dependent on her. She has always performed, and we trust she’ll continue to do well,” said the Indian captain.
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Apart from her individual performances, Rawal’s chemistry has been exceptional with fellow southpaw opener Mandhana. The duo has registered 1597 runs in 30 innings at an average of 57.03, striking at 93.77, including a five century stands for the first wicket. Of the 56 batting pairs that have aggregated at least 1000 partnership runs in Women’s ODIs till date (for any wicket), Mandhana and Rawal have the best run-rate and the second-best average. The pair has accrued 968 runs in 2025 so far, the most by any pair in a calendar year for any wicket. They surpassed 905 between Australia’s Belinda Clark and Lisas Keightley in 2000 to achieve the incredible feat.
India openers have recorded the most runs among all teams for the first wicket since December 1, 2024. The Indian openers, also including Richa Ghosh and Priya Punia, have racked up 1775 runs off 18 matches, averaging a staggering 52.20 and an impressive strike rate of 92.35. Among those runs, 1595 runs have been scored by Smriti Mandhana and Rawal in 30 innings at an impressive average of 56.96 and a strike rate of 93.76, with five hundreds.
With India entering the Women’s ODI World Cup 2025 as the home favourites, the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side has been decent in the recent ICC events but failed to lift the silverware. Hence, after these stupendous trailers, the Women in Blue would want stability and consistency from their openers going into the marquee tournament.
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