Women’s T20 World Cup 2026: ‘Tough to miss a global event’ - Mithali Raj sympathises with Shreyanka Patil

Former India captain Mithali Raj believes Shreyanka Patil's injury will be a significant setback, both for the player personally and from the team's perspective. Shreyanka suffered a right ankle injury during India's match against Netherlands Women after twisting her ankle while chasing the ball.

Mithali noted that missing a major global tournament would be difficult for Shreyanka and expressed sympathy for the young all-rounder. She also backed Radha Yadav as the ideal replacement, citing her experience and ability to strengthen the team's spin-bowling department in Shreyanka's absence.

"Shreyanka's injury will definitely be a setback because the support staff would have had strategies and tactics in place for this World Cup, keeping her in mind. She, too, would have been looking forward to the tournament, especially after working her way back from an injury,” said Mithali on JioStar.

“It is tough for any player to get injured and then miss out on a global event like the World Cup. As far as the Indian team is concerned, they will now have to go to Plan B or Plan C. They do have Radha Yadav in their ranks, and India's strength has traditionally been its spin attack. Radha did reasonably well in the ODI World Cup and is already part of the squad. If India need a third spinner as an immediate replacement, she could step into Shreyanka's role,” she added.

Mithali believes Australia Women and India Women are the favorites to qualify from Group A for the semi-finals. From Group B, she expects England Women to progress comfortably. Mithali also admitted that she has little hope of New Zealand Women reaching the knockout stage after their two defeats in the tournament. Instead, she backed West Indies Women to join England as the second semi-finalist from Group B.

"Since Australia and India have already won two games each, and South Africa have lost to Australia, India have a better chance to qualify even though they are yet to face South Africa. I expect Australia and India to get into the knockouts from Group A. From the other group, England look the most likely team to qualify, having started strongly with two wins from two games,” said Mithali.

“The second team is a bit difficult to predict because a few teams are still in contention. West Indies, Sri Lanka and New Zealand are all in the mix, although New Zealand's chances have gone down with two defeats already. If I had to pick one, I would go with the West Indies,” she added.