Shreyanka Patil ruled out of the Women’s T20 World Cup as Prema Rawat joins India
India have lost Shreyanka Patil to an ankle ligament injury for the rest of the tournament, with uncapped leg-spinner Prema Rawat called up as her replacement.
Jun 19, 2026
India’s spin options at the Women’s T20 World Cup have just thinned out. Shreyanka Patil has been ruled out of the rest of the tournament with an ankle ligament injury, and the uncapped leg-spinner Prema Rawat has been called into the squad to take her place.
Patil was hurt during India’s group win over the Netherlands in Leeds on June 17. She was into her first over of the match when she rolled her ankle moving to field the ball, and it was serious enough that she had to be stretchered off and took no further part. India won the game comfortably, but the scans that followed brought the bad news: ligament damage that ends her World Cup.
A leg-spinner in for an off-spinner
Rawat’s call-up was signed off by the tournament’s event technical committee on June 18. The 24-year-old has yet to play for India, but she was already in England with the India A side, so linking up with the senior squad is simple enough. She earned the nod on the back of a strong Women’s Premier League season and her work for India’s Rising Stars at the Women’s Asia Cup.
Her arrival shifts the make-up of India’s attack rather than just patching the gap. Patil is an off-spinning all-rounder who can be trusted early and holds her own with the bat down the order. Rawat brings wrist spin, a different problem for batters to read, which gives Harmanpreet Kaur a fresh tactical lever even if it comes with the uncertainty of an untried international.
A harsh blow for Patil
The timing is rough on Patil. Her 2026 Women’s Premier League had marked a return to form after a long spell on the sidelines, and a World Cup looked like the stage to build on it. Instead she heads home, and India lose a bowler who had earned a role in the side.
India can absorb it. They sit top of Group 1 after beating Pakistan and the Netherlands, and they turn next to South Africa at Old Trafford on June 21. Still, losing a frontline spinner this early is not how Harmanpreet’s side would have wanted to head into the sharp end of the group stage.