Shafali Verma back where she belongs, on top

Summer days can be long in Jaipur. The sun shines brightly even past seven in the evening.

It was on one such hot evening in 2019 that Shafali Verma announced her arrival on the cricketing stage. The 15-year-old from Rohtak was one of the ‘unknowns’ picked for the Women’s T20 Challenge.

Rapid rise

Less than a year later, shortly before the coronavirus shut the world down, she became World No. 1 batter in women’s T20. She achieved the feat during the Women’s T20 World Cup in Australia last year, when her big hits at the top of the order powered India into the final.

The pandemic meant she got to play no international cricket for a year. When she finally did, she won her No. 1 ranking back.

She returned to the top spot during the recent T20I series against South Africa at Lucknow earlier in the week. India may have lost the series, but Shafali ensured the fans who turned up at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Stadium had plenty to cheer about.

Her 30-ball 60 in the final game, which helped India score a consolation win after losing the three-match series, was another reminder of her astonishing talent. It was brutal, yet beautiful.

She is one of the hardest hitters in the women’s game. She is also one of the most fearless.

That fearlessness was very much evident when she took on the experienced Trailblazers attack, featuring the likes of Sophie Ecclestone, Shakera Selman, Rajeshwari Gayakwad and Deepti Sharma, at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur two years ago.

Opening the innings for Velocity, she scored 34 off 31 balls to help her side in a successful chase.

Former India captain Shubhangi Kulkarni remembers that innings. “One could sense that Shafali was a special talent,” she said. “I was impressed by her temperament and timing.”

Shubhangi believes the youngster needs to be drafted into the ODI team, too. “She should have been picked for the ODI series against South Africa,” she said. “Shafali’s batting is not mindless slogging. She could be an ideal partner for Smriti Mandhana in India’s ODI team, too.”

That thought has probably crossed Shafali’s mind.

Motivation

“Not getting named in the one-day squad is a motivation for me to play even better,” the 17-year-old said. “I will keep on working hard to make the ODI team.”

Those words may not sound sweet to the ODI bowlers around the world.