Pratika Rawal has been the author of her own destiny for as long as she can remember.

From choosing cricket over basketball at 16 to carving her niche as an opening batter for India, the 25-year-old loves to be in control of things around her, right down to the last detail.

Since making her international debut against West Indies last December, Pratika has smashed her way into the record books, amassing 1000 ODI runs in no time, the joint-fastest to reach the mark in the women’s game (23 innings, tied with Australia’s Lindsay Reeler).

The Pratika-Smriti Mandhana pairing at the top has been an imperious one in the 50-over format, becoming the fifth most successful duo in the women’s game with 1799 runs in just 23 innings. Among the top five, which includes remarkable pairs like South Africa’s Laura Wolvaardt-Lizelle Lee and Australia’s Rachael Haynes-Alyssa Healy, the Indian combination has the best average: a striking 78.21.

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Up and up

The World Cup was lukewarm by their standards, with Pratika left shouldering responsibility after Smriti fell in five of the six batting innings she was involved in, even taking some brickbats for a slow strike rate. But it all came together in an incredible match-winning 122 against New Zealand, which sealed India’s place in the knockouts. It was a 170-minute masterclass that received the cinematic treatment it deserved from the ICC digital team in the reels and highlight clips that followed.

Life was moving at a great pace before it suddenly screeched to a halt. A horrifying slip on a wet outfield in Navi Mumbai in India’s last league match left her with a fractured ankle.

“I am not a person who shows much emotion,” Pratika tells Sportstar, with a foot protected by a moon boot and elevated on the bed at home in New Delhi. “I screamed. Harleen Deol, who was at long-on, knew something was wrong as I do not usually show pain. I stood up because I don’t like going out on a stretcher, that’s just me. I walked into the dressing room, and my only concern was when I could go to bat!”

She wouldn’t for the rest of the World Cup; her dream of seeing India through to the podium was left incomplete.

“These things can happen to any player. It’s a part of sport. This isn’t in my control. The only thing I could do was nurse my ankle properly. I began calculating how long it would take me to get back on the field. It was all about what to do next. All the emotions I didn’t show, my dad did. I ended up having to calm him down then.”

When India eventually beat South Africa to lift its maiden World Cup trophy, Smriti ensured Pratika was front and centre of the celebrations. She was wheeled into the middle of the dancing, even helped onto her feet for some bhangra. Her family, some with her in Navi Mumbai and some back home in Delhi, couldn’t help but tear up. It would be natural to assume there might be a small drop of regret somewhere in Pratika’s bloodstream for not being an active part of that thrilling summit clash.

“I’ve taken after my mother (Rajni). I am practical. My coach, Deepti Dhyani, is the same, too. They keep telling me that God has his own ways. Whatever happens, happens for good. When you keep hearing that, you don’t feel like you’re missing out on anything. When the time comes, I’m going to get much more.”

Pratika Rawal sustained a fracture to her ankle but that didn’t stop her from being around the dugout until the very end.
| Photo Credit:
Getty Images

That foresight comes from the toil and hard choices she had to make early on.

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Lessons from early rebellion

She was the first girl to enrol for cricket coaching under Shravan Kumar at Rohtak Road Gymkhana. She has always been a sporty kid, dabbling in athletics before juggling basketball and cricket alongside her academics. She has been in the Under-19 setup since 12. Pratika piled on runs at the age-group and domestic levels. But there came a time when taking on so much started to affect performance.

“I had practice in the morning for basketball and then training in the evening for cricket, which I balanced with tuitions. I remember there was this U-19 domestic season where I didn’t score too many runs. We were playing a match in Guntur in Andhra, and I got out for a duck. We won that game nevertheless, but I remember thinking to myself when I was fielding then, ‘Prats, if you want to play this sport at the highest level, this is not going to work.’ I was 16 then when I made that choice, and it was mine to make.”

While practical and fairly wise now, thanks largely to the conditioning her support system provided, she was once a tantrum-throwing  shaitaan (devil), as her mother describes. Pratika calls her phase of teenage rebellion her lowest point.

Pratika Rawal with her parents Pradeep and Rajni
| Photo Credit:
Shiv Kumar Pushpakar

“Teenagers love to defy and not listen to their parents. Same here. I was in the worst possible shape as an athlete. I was eating a lot of junk, going late for practice, and not studying well. I love to be in control, usually, but I had lost that control over my life.

“There was another instance when I was 14. I was not selected for one of the National teams in basketball despite playing well. It broke my heart. I threw a tantrum with my mom, saying I deserved it, and maybe I didn’t get selected because they didn’t like who I am. Every insecurity for a 14-year-old came bubbling up. My parents quickly addressed that, saying it’s all about perspective. The world has a lot to offer. One just has to ask. I live by those words.

“Now you’re going to say, ‘Isme bhi positive dekh rahi hai’ (laughs), but I am glad that happened early in my life. I don’t ever have to go through that again. Everything happens for a reason.”

Pratika has never been one to shy away from hard work and had her father, Pradeep, to fuel that fire.

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In nets set up on their terrace, the duo trained endlessly during the pandemic, hitting close to 500 balls a day. The pair had their fun too. “We used to bowl to each other from the beginning. We had bets to see if he could dismiss me or vice versa. He used to get me out a lot, but times have thankfully changed,” she quips.

Her ambitions took flight when Indian women’s cricket sprouted wings of its own. The 2017 World Cup doubled her family’s belief in their daughter having a future in a sport she was already so good at. Seven years later, when she broke into the dressing room, standing shoulder to shoulder with names she grew up idolising, Pratika, in her zeal to do things the right way, didn’t know the correct protocol.

“I thought you had to behave a certain way here. You had to say good morning to everyone whenever you saw them. Turns out it was all in my head. I could be myself. If I didn’t want to talk that day, it was fine. There were no obligations to do anything. It was such a comforting environment.”

Blinkers on

As her numbers suggest, she thrived. There was the shadow of Shafali Verma’s flamboyance hanging around that position, but Pratika was clear about doing things her way, something the dugout and her partner, Smriti, encouraged.

“When I play, I don’t think about anything else. It’s just me, the ball, the bowler, and the fielders I have to pierce. My parents always told me that my only focus should be the game; everything else is a distraction. I don’t have things running at the back of my mind. If anything, there are a lot of goals there that constantly swirl around, things I need to get done.”

An academic curiosity about psychology helped that compartmentalisation. It began when she was young and idealistic, trying to understand why criminals and serial killers behave the way they do, so she could prevent them from committing harm and save society. As she evolved as an athlete, that curiosity helped her more internally.

“Psychology deals with human behaviour and emotions. I wanted to get a hold of that, know how to alter emotions, because they can get you in a lot of trouble when it is not going your way. Mom always used to tell me stories from the Ramayan and Mahabharat, and I remember one where Krishna ji tells Arjun that your mind can be your best friend and worst enemy.

“I am not worried about failure, I am about stagnation,”says Pratika
| Photo Credit:
Shiv Kumar Pushpakar

“I love reading about disorders. I got so obsessed with it that my mom had to intervene and say, ‘ Disorders hi kyun padh rahi hai? Kuch aur padh le‘ (Why are you only reading about disorders? Read something else).

“I learnt about different types of stress: eustress (good) and distress (bad). It helped me figure out management techniques, what I should and shouldn’t do in heated situations, and more.”

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All that composure and space-making for the self will be needed now more than ever as she navigates the difficulty of a life of stillness. “I am not worried about failure, I am about stagnation,” she says.

Room to celebrate

A person whose vacations involve making to-do lists and tweaking exercise regimes has now been forced to pause and look around, and smell the flowers. Despite being in a wheelchair and needing crutches to walk, Pratika’s days have been anything but relaxed, with countless media engagements, VIP visits, shoots, and felicitations coming her way. But what she remembers most is the sweep of emotions when India became world champion at the stroke of midnight and her own little part in that historic moment.

“My dad couldn’t control his emotions when the team came to escort me to the ground. He was screaming. A lot of raw emotions. But I remember my mom calling me. She is someone who sleeps early. She can’t stay up late, but she did that day. Dad asked her why she was still awake, and she said, ‘My daughter has won the country a World Cup. How can I sleep?’ She was so happy. My brother never posts on Instagram, and he put up a story saying he was proud of me.”

Her circle has also kept her humble through the ups and downs of a life in cricket.

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“My coach always says, look to the sky but keep your feet on the ground. She always reminds me of things I still have to do. We keep being told not to dwell on the past when things go wrong. It should apply when successes come too. After all, we have to start from scratch the next time we take to the field.”

Pratika is not one for big celebrations or even tattooing the World Cup trophy on her body. For someone who walked off a cricket field with a broken ankle, she is petrified of needles.

“Maybe that’s my disorder,” she says cheekily. But she does maintain a diary she calls the Record Book.

“I keep a lot of goals and milestones written there. Winning the World Cup was one of them.” A very satisfying strike awaits this dreamer as she gets started with her pursuit of greatness.

Published on Nov 19, 2025