Priya Punia Earns Maiden Test Call-Up for England Series

Priya Punia (BCCI Photo)

NEW DELHI: India have handed Priya Punia her maiden Test call-up after opener Pratika Rawal was ruled out of the one-off women's Test against England at Lord's with a knee injury. The Women's Selection Committee named Punia as Rawal's replacement after the opener failed to recover in time for the match, which begins on Friday. Rawal suffered a cut around her right knee while playing for India A in the second One-Day match against England A in Taunton. The injury required stitches, forcing her to miss the Lord's Test. Head coach Amol Muzumdar confirmed the news ahead of the match. "Pratika has been ruled out of the Test match due to her injury in the India A match. She has got a cut on her knee which required some stitches. She is out for the Test match and Priya Punia has been added into the squad," said Muzumdar.

Who is Priya Punia?

Born in Jaipur, Rajasthan, Priya Punia is a right-handed top-order batter who can also bowl right-arm medium pace. The 29-year-old has represented India in limited-overs cricket but is yet to make her Test debut. Punia made her international debut in a T20I against New Zealand on February 6, 2019. Since then, she has represented India in both ODIs and T20Is. Punia's selection for the one-off Test against England comes on the back of an excellent series for India A against England A. She scored 23 in the opening match before following it up with 87 and 61 in the next two games. She finished as India A's highest run-scorer in the three-match One-Day series with 171 runs and played a key role in India's 2-1 series victory.

Priya Punia's international record

So far, Punia has played 12 Women's ODIs, scoring 273 runs at an average of 27.30. Her highest score is an unbeaten 75, and she has hit two half-centuries in the format. In T20 Internationals, she has featured in three matches, scoring nine runs.

India's squad for the one-off Test against England

Harmanpreet Kaur (captain), Smriti Mandhana (vice-captain), Shafali Varma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (wicketkeeper), Sree Charani, Yastika Bhatia (wicketkeeper), Nandini Sharma, Harleen Deol, Renuka Thakur, Kranti Gaud, Sayali Satghare, Sneh Rana and Priya Punia.

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