NEWS
Follow UsIndia, as a women's cricketing powerhouse, has failed to live up to its potential. While they have reached numerous finals, both in the 50-over and 20-over format, they are yet to break the ICC title drought.
The only side that has broken it in the women’s scheme of things is Shafali Verma’s India U-19 side, which triumphed in the inaugural edition of the tournament. Shafali insisted that she would take a lot of ‘confidence’ from that win to this year’s T20 World Cup in Dubai and Sharjah.
"Of course, it was a massive thing for women's cricket in India that we won an ICC trophy. It was the biggest moment of my life and I will take confidence from that so that we can lift the T20 World Cup this year as well,” Shafali told ESPNCricinfo.
"Our main focus right now is that we win the [World Cup] trophy. Individual goals and records are a part of the game. But there's no better feeling than your team winning, and those nights I get good sleep,” she added.
While at the start of her career, Shafali was only known for her power-hitting abilities, the right-hander has learnt to imbibe the virtue of patience into her own game over the years, making her now doubly dangerous. That has made her much more solid at the top, bringing about the consistency that is required.
"At the start of my career, I just used to go out and hit, but now I've made some changes mentally. Now I have the game to block a couple of deliveries as well, I can play along the ground, too. You become more consistent once you make mental changes in your game. I'm hoping to carry on this consistency and do well for the team,” she spoke about the changes made.
It was in 2024 when Shafali decided enough is enough, changing her game for good, with staggering numbers in the shortest format: 434 runs @36.16 and at a strike rate of 132.72, rattling the opponents early on.
"The T20 World Cup in 2020 was my first World Cup and that time I used to go after every ball. Early in your career, such a thing may work, but after a point, the opposition starts doing video analysis, and they can work out your game when it comes to your strengths and weaknesses. I didn't do that well in the 2023 T20 World Cup either but I learnt a lot from that tournament.
"Now people have started to say my consistency has improved and in the last 3-4 years I've learnt how important being consistent is. I'm just 20 now and plan to get better from the learnings of the last 3-4 years."
India open their T20 World Cup campaign against New Zealand on October 4 before the all-important clash against arch-rivals Pakistan on October 6.
If you’ve not downloaded the Cricket.com app yet, you’re missing out on our content — big time. Download the App here.
