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Feeling overwhelmed upon seeing her teammates celebrate their inspiring title win at the ICC Women’s World Cup 2025 on Sunday, November 2, India’s injured opening batter Pratika Rawal made sure she joined them despite being in a wheelchair. The right-hander was ruled out of the tournament before the semi-final, having suffered a serious ankle injury while fielding against Bangladesh in the same ground. Moments after skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and her spirited Indian side completed their remarkable comeback arc in the tournament, beating South Africa by 52 runs in the final in Navi Mumbai, Rawal was seen joining the team with her father, Pradeep Rawal. She attempted to stand for a bit and do some light bhangra too. Making the moments even more memorable, Rawal was wearing the Indian team shirt and proudly held the country’s tri-color flag around her shoulders when she reunited with her teammates and friends. Pratika Rawal celebrates with the team while seated in a wheelchair due to injury. 🥹??? pic.twitter.com/w7NwIyEjBl — Rohit Sharma Fan (@hitmanfanfollow) November 3, 2025 Later on, Rawal tried her best to control the tears when she spoke to the broadcasters and summed up her emotions over the groundbreaking result in the final. “I can’t express enough. There are no words. It’s not going to come out of my mouth. This flag on my shoulder means a lot to me. And you know, being here with my team, it’s just surreal,” she said. “Injuries are part and parcel of the game. I’m very happy that I was a part of this team, this winning team. I just love this team. I can’t express my feelings towards this team. I’m very happy that we actually made it. We’re the first team who has won the World Cup in so long and the whole of India deserves this.” “To be very honest, it was very difficult for me to sit down and watch the match because it’s actually very difficult. It’s very easy to play inside rather than watching from the outside. But seeing this energy, seeing this environment, it just gave me goosebumps. Whenever there was a wicket, whenever there was a sixer, you know, you can see the energy. It’s amazing.” Good to see Pratika Rawal at the stadium ?️ #indwvssaw #CWC25 #INDvsSA #ICCWomensWorldCup2025 pic.twitter.com/Y4yz6hFHoR — FTino (@FernadoTin10172) November 2, 2025 Rawal looked in great form and struck a match-winning century in the must-win encounter against New Zealand in the league stage. As fate would have it, her replacement and comeback opener, Shafali Verma, put up a Player of the Match performance with 87 runs and two wickets in the final.
