Huge blow to India ahead of ODI World Cup 2025 as star player ruled out of Australia series due to viral fever, batter with 46.66 average named replacement

India's 25-year-old batter Jemimah Rodrigues has been ruled out of the remainder of the ODI series against Australia due to viral fever. Tejal Hasabnis who is in the standbys for the ICC Women's ODI World Cup 2025, has been named Rodrigues' replacement for the ODI series. 

In a statement, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said that their medical team is monitoring Rodrigues' progress.

In the first ODI of the series Rodrigues scored 18 runs from 26 balls. She lost her wicket to Tahlia McGrath.

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Tejal Hasabnis’ ODI record 

The 28-year-old Hasabnis has played six ODIs so far. She has scored 140 runs from six innings at an average of 46.66 and strike rate of 78.65. Earlier this year, she scored an unbeaten 53 against Ireland, her highest ODI score.

She was part of the India A's tour of Australia. Against Australia A, she was not at her best. In Brisbane, she registered scores of 8, 19 and 1 in the One-Day series.

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India’s updated ODI squad against Australia: 

Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Pratika Rawal, Harleen Deol, Deepti Sharma, Renuka Singh Thakur, Arundhati Reddy, Richa Ghosh (wk), Kranti Gaud, Sayali Satghare, Radha Yadav, Sree Charani, Sneh Rana, Uma Chetry (wk), Tejal Hasabnis

Standby players: Prema Rawat, Priya Mishra

Harmanpreet, Alyssa make 2 changes each 

In Rodrigues' absence, India bolstered their bowling attack by bringing Renuka Singh Thakur and Arundhati Reddy into the side. Australia captain Alyssa Healy won the toss and opted to bowl first. Healy replaced Kim Garth and Phoebe Litchfield with Darice Brown and Georgia Voll respectively.

India Playing XI: Smriti Mandhana, Pratika Rawal, Harleen Deol, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Richa Ghosh (wk), Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Arundhati Reddy, Radha Yadav, Renuka Singh Thakur, Kranti Goud.

Australia Playing XI: Alyssa Healy (c & wk), Georgia Voll, Ellyse Perry, Beth Mooney, Annabel Sutherland, Ashleigh Gardner, Tahlia McGrath, Georgia Wareham, Alana King, Darcie Brown, Megan Schutt.