‘God sent me here’: Shafali Verma reacts to Pratika Rawal’s injury, says switching to ODIs won’t be ‘easy’ ahead of Australia clash | Cricket News
Navi Mumbai: It’s not easy to be in Shafali Verma’s shoes right now.Captaining Haryana in the Senior National Women’s T20 tournament at Surat, the young opener, who has been out of the India’s WODI team for exactly an year now – she last played in this format for India against New Zealand on October 29, 2024 at Ahmedabad suddenly learnt that she had to report to Navi Mumbai for India’s 2025 WODI World Cup semifinal against a formidable side like Australia at the DY Patil Stadium on Thursday due to an ankle injury that ruled Pratika Rawal from the tournament.Replacing an in-form player is never easy, but going by the actions and words of the 21-year-old, the young gun is ready for the challenge. On Tuesday, Shafali slogged it out during India’s training session under lights at the DY Patil Stadium on Tuesday. On Wednesday, in the pre-semifinal presser, she said that she felt that it was indeed divine intervention which would see her getting pitchforked into the India playing eleven in such a big game despite not even being a part of the reserves list.Rawal sustained a hairline fracture on her ankle while she fell awkwardly while fielding in the last group league game against Bangladesh.“What happened with Pratika, as a sportsperson, it wasn’t a good thing. No one wants any sportsperson to sustain such an injury. But God has sent me here to do something good,” Shafali said philosophically.Luckily for India, Shafali is in good form. The young gun is currently the top-run getter in the ongoing Senior Women’s T20 League, having made 341 runs at a strike rate of 182.35 for Haryana. Her scores have been 55* vs Odisha (in the last match), 39 vs Hyderabad, 42 vs Andhra, 15 vs Karnataka, 107 vs Himachal, 13 vs Chhattisgarh & 70 against Tripura.Before this tournament, she had a good outing for India A in their recent tour to Australia.Verma, who made her ODI debut for India on June 27, 2021, against England, in Bristol, doesn’t boast of a great WODI record. In 29 ODIs, she has scored 644 runs at 23.00, including four fifties in ODIs and has a highest score of 71 not out. Her opening partnership with vice-captain Smriti Mandhana has yielded 893 runs in 25 innings at 37.20 – numbers which look pale in comparison to the fruitful pairing of Mandhana with Rawal. “I was playing domestic (cricket) and I was in a very good touch and talking about the semifinals, it’s not like it’s something new for me because I have played in the semifinals before. It depends on how I keep myself clear mentally and keep giving myself confidence. I have played in semifinals before,” she said.A regular in the T20Is for India, where she enjoys a strike-rate of 131 and has played 90 games, Shafali comes with a tag of ‘risky’ associated with her due to her tendency of going bang bang from ball one, which can be counterproductive at times. “I was playing T20s but as a batter, it’s not that easy to switch. But we had a practice session today as well as yesterday. I tried to stay calm while batting. I tried to play good balls along the ground and those that were in my range, I tried to hit them well. I have had long batting sessions in the last two days, today and tomorrow and I felt great knowing I did all that I was trying to do,” the opener said.Having been around the international cricket circuit for a while now, Shafali knows what Australia bring to the table. “I have played against Australia a lot of times and it’s not the case where I would assess first and then react. I know how their bowlers bowl. I have to back my strengths (because) absolutely they will come hard at us and we have prepared well for it,” she said.
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Picked for the Women-in-Blue for this campaign out of the blue, Shafali revealed that she was welcomed into the India camp with open arms by all. “All the players I have spoken to, coach, captain and even Smriti 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 I will obviously hit those who are in my length (hitting range),” she said.
