The T20 typecast had put a long full stop to Shafali Verma’s ODI career. But to her good fortune, the 21-year-old finds herself back in the side, all set to play her first ODI in over a year in Thursday’s World Cup semi-final against Australia here.
Of course, without in-form opener Pratika Rawal’s injury, it wouldn’t have been possible for Shafali to get the break. Her ODI average might not be impressive — only 23 after 29 appearances — but one cannot ignore the efforts she has put in since her exclusion from the squad last year.
“During the senior women’s one-dayers last December, Shafali blasted a 115-ball 197 for her state (Haryana) against Bengal. Haryana couldn’t win that high-scoring game despite Shafali’s explosive knock, but what shocked most was that no national selector from the Neetu David-led committee was present for that game in Rajkot,” a BCCI insider told The Telegraph on Wednesday.
In other words, the then women’s selection committee seemed “quite adamant” about restricting Shafali to the T20 format. To Shafali’s good fortune, the current panel, headed by Amita Sharma, comes across as flexible.
Shafali had been in Surat for the senior women’s T20 tournament when she was called up. Since joining the side at the DY Patil Stadium here, she has been working hard. On Tuesday, she had a full-throttle training session, including fielding drills.
On Wednesday, the eve of the second semi-final, she batted at the nets for a fair amount of time and even sent down a bit of her off-break bowling.
In these intense situations, numbers don’t always matter for a power-hitter like her. The instinctive player that Shafali is, the Australian bowlers could rather be under serious pressure if they err in line and length against her.
Going by Shafali’s current mindset, she seems to be in the mood to punish anything in her arc.
“All the players I have spoken to... coach (Amol Muzumdar), captain (Harmanpreet Kaur) and even Smriti (Mandhana) di... they all said that I have to play my game. There is nothing to panic about, and when I am getting this kind of freedom, I will try to respect the good balls and will obviously smash those in my range,” Shafali said on Wednesday.
The ICC plans to make Sunday’s final at the DY Patil Stadium a grand affair. Sunidhi Chauhan is expected to perform, besides other eminent personalities who would be invited. If Shafali’s fireworks take off on Thursday, India too may have every reason to celebrate.
