India’s explosive opener Shafali Verma claims that her increasing skill with the ball is no coincidence since careful planning and visualization have enabled her to develop into an all-round player who can play a variety of positions for the team.
Shafali, who is most known for her aggressive hitting, has become a valuable bowling option in recent months, frequently contributing significant breakthroughs. In India’s most recent World Cup match, she had even started the attack against South Africa with her off-spin.
“It’s not like that I have never bowled before,” Shafali, who claimed two crucial wickets in the final of the ODI world Cup, was quoted by PTI telling reporters on the eve of their T20 World Cup match against Bangladesh.
“Whenever I played domestic cricket for Haryana and even when I was captain, I always gave myself time to think about how I would execute if I got a chance to bowl for India. I have visualised those situations. If I am bowling in a particular match situation, what do I need to think about? It’s not like I am bowling just like that. I have prepared for it and worked hard on it. That’s why I am able to execute well.”
According to Shafali, she enjoys taking on more responsibility and is prepared to step up anytime the team needs her.
“As a player, whatever the situation and whatever the team needs, I always put my hand up. I want to get the team out of difficult situations and help win matches. So I would say I am an all-rounder now,” she said.
Even though batting remained her major emphasis, the 22-year-old said that her father encouraged her to bowl from a young age.
“My brother was a leg-spinner, so sometimes my father would tell me to bowl as well if I got a chance. Now he says, ‘Thank God you bowled at that time because you are bowling well today’,” she said with a smile.
“My father first made me a wicketkeeper. If you don’t know, I used to keep wickets in domestic cricket. But now I am bowling as well, and I don’t mind being the person who helps the team win games.”
Harmanpreet Kaur’s team has little margin for error after losing to South Africa by six wickets; they will probably need to win their next two league games to go to the next round.
According to Shafali, the team will concentrate on taking each game as it comes and is prepared to move past the South Africa defeat.
“When we go through bad days, the morale of the players will be down. But the next day, we all know that we have to come together and motivate each other,” Shafali said.
“We spoke about it in the huddle yesterday. We know these are crucial games, but we will back each other. We are taking it day by day … we had a lot of thoughts about staying in the present. Everyone is very mature. Everyone has played a lot of cricket.
“So I don’t think we will let this situation happen again in this World Cup. So I will just say that we will give our best in this World Cup.”
Despite being the favorites going into the match, the brilliant opener stated that India will not take the opposition lightly.
“We can’t take any team lightly. They also came here to show good cricket … we all know we have to win two games but we’ll go game by game. We’ll try to give our best cricket tomorrow and just win that game.”
According to Shafali, the team has gained confidence from a similar circumstance that occurred during the ODI World Cup last year, when India overcame a challenging situation to remain in the competition.
“It’s not like that we have never been in this situation before. We have come out of this situation last year. Tough situations are those which have never come in your life but we have overcome this situation by accepting it in ODIs,” Shafali said.
“So we know that we have to win both these matches. So how do we have to prepare? How will we have to talk to each other as a player? So I will just say that … this time also, we will just go in and see what we did at that time, what we executed well. So every player has gone and seen that and we all are ready for that.”
