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The Indian women's cricket team created history, by fate took a cruel turn for Pratika Rawal, who played a key role in the triumph, did not get a medal as the Harmanpreet Kaur-led team were crowned champions after beating South Africa in the 2025 Women's World Cup final at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai. Rawal was a key performer for India and finished as the second-highest run-getter for the Women in Blue behind Smriti Mandhana. Overall, she is the fourth-highest run-getter of the competition. The 25-year-old made 308 runs at an average of 51.33 in six innings, which included a century in the virtual quarter-final against New Zealand. No Medal For Pratika Rawal Despite being a top performer for the team and being part of the celebrations last night, Rawal did not have a medal on her neck, unlike her teammates. This is due to the fact that after she injured herself against Bangladesh, India was forced to replace her in the squad with Shafali Verma, who ended up being the Player of the Match (POTM) in the final. As per ICC's regulations, the winner's medal is only awarded to the 15-member squad, which means that Shafali got a medal, Pratika missed out. However, this does not stop the opener from celebrating the victory while being on a wheelchair. The Indian players ensured that she did not miss out on the europhia despite her injury. Pratika's story is similar to that of Jason Gillespie in the 2003 Men's Cricket World Cup, who played four games in Australia's victorious campaign and took eight wickets. However, he suffered a heel injury and was ruled out of the competition mid-way and replaced by Nathan Bracken. He did not get a winner's medal for that. The Australian pacer, unlike Pratika, did not even get to celebrate the triumph with his teammates, a disappointment he wrote about his his autobiography. "Back in Adelaide, I watched the Final at the Oyster Bar, on East Terrace. A group of South Australian cricket lads were there, and the owner Jason Bernardi looked after us really well. The trouble was, everyone kept coming hassling me all night: ‘Dizzy, you should be there!', and I was thinking, No shit—thanks for that. I had a couple of beers, a few oysters and a chat to a few of the lads, but I left before the end of the game because I was a bit sick of the attention: I couldn't handle it and the fact I wasn't in Johannesburg playing. I ended up watching the end of the game at home. That was the other hard part about being injured this time around: you're missing out on creating history in a tournament that comes around only every four years," said Gillespie. Get Latest News Live on Times Now along with Breaking News and Top Headlines from Sports, Cricket and around the world.
