On Tuesday, 30th September, the Barsapara Stadium in Guwahati marked the beginning of the India-Women versus Sri Lanka-women show in the Women’s World Cup 2025. Chamari Athapaththu’s team won the toss and elected to put India into bat first for the opening match of the prestigious fifty-over event.
The Women in Blue made some crucial changes in the playing XI, calling off a few big names for the Indian side. Amongst the names that stand out are Arundhati Reddy, Radha Yadhav, and Renuka Singh Thakur, hence are not playing in the opening match against Sri Lanka.
Fans were left surprised by the exclusion of Renuka Singh, with the internet flocked with queries on whether the RCB star pacer is injured or not.
Why is Renuka Thakur out of Playing XI?
For the unversed, Renuka Singh is completely fine and there is no injury issue. The right-arm seamer, however, has been excused from the playing XI by a tactical decision. India women have gone with three spinners and two seamers in Amanjot Kaur and Kranti Goud.
Again, Renuka hasn’t been herself post back injury, bowling away a lot of runs. She had returned into the side for the Australia series but took only three wickets in two matches, with an economy of 6.90.
In warm-up matches, she could get only one wicket in two matches. Hence, aside from the tactical reasons, there is a possibility that India is trying to keep Renuka Singh Thakur fresh for major matches as the right-arm seam bowler has still not full recovered from her back injury, which kept her out of action for several months earlier this year.
