The Indian women’s team kicked off their ICC T20 World Cup 2026 campaign with a bang and recorded two successive victories. However, the victories came at a cost as the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side suffered a massive injury blow in the form of Shreyanka Patil. The star off-spinner suffered an ankle ligament injury against Netherlands on Wednesday, ultimately ruling her out from the tournament. However, the Women in Blue didn't let the injury impact their plans and went on to record a massive 95-run win over their Dutch counterparts.

 

In the meantime, they have announced Prema Rawat as the replacement for Patil for the remainder of the tournament. The Event Technical Committee of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup has approved her replacement and Rawat is expected to join the squad soon.

Who is Prema Rawat? Indian off-spinner set to replace Shreyanka Patil

 

Born on November 12, 2001, Rawat was initially interested in pursuing a career in hockey and displayed immense potential as a state-level hockey player in her early teens. Hailing from a remote village of Bageshwar in Uttarakhand, Rawat switched to cricket after facing lack of facilities in hockey. Rawat picked eight wickets in five games in the Women’s Asia Cup Rising Stars tournament. Moreover, she also finished as the joint-leading wicket taker on India A’s tour of Australia last year, claiming seven wickets in three T20 games.

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This is not it, the 24-year-old finished as the leading wicket-taker in the Senior Women’s T20 Trophy 2025 with 16 wickets at an economy rate of 5.55 in 10 games. This resulted in her receiving her first-ever Women’s Premier League (WPL) contract when she was picked by the Royal Challengers Bengaluru for INR 1.2 crore. While Rawat has time and again proved her mettle on the global stage, she now finds herself onto the grandest stage of them all.