Follow UsShafali Verma came into the Indian side only before the World Cup semifinal after injury to chosen opener Pratika Rawal. Despite a failed attempt in the semifinal against Australia, she has proved her naysayers wrong by playing her best-ever knock in WODIs in the final of a home World Cup.
She helped India off to a quick start with Smriti Mandhana at the top, and added 104 runs for the first wicket in the final at the Dr Dy Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai as the fans rejoiced their elegant and efficient stroke play. Verma, coming straight off the Senior Women’s T20 Tournament in Surat, looked in fine touch and continued to bat at a strike rate north of 100.
She eventually got dismissed in the 28th over at a score of 87 off 78 while trying to go above the mid-off fielder. On her way, she became the youngest to score a fifty in a Women’s ODI World Cup Final.
However, she had done her work as an opener. Her partner Mandhana, who was the first wicket to fall, scored an easy-paced 45 off 58 and was yet again looking to go for a big score, before edging out to Sinalo Jafta off the bowling of Chloe Tryon.
In the process, Mandhana became the Indian woman with the highest run tally in a single edition of the Women’s ODI World Cup, scoring 434 in this edition and going past the 409 scored by Mithali Raj in the 2017 edition.
Both the batters, Verma and Mandhana, also became only the fourth Indian opening pair to score more than 1000 runs together.
Most runs for India in a Women's World Cup edition
434 - Smriti Mandhana, 2025
409 - Mithali Raj, 2017
381 - Punam Raut, 2017
359 - Harmanpreet Kaur, 2017
Youngest player to hit a 50+ score in a Women's World Cup Final
21y 278d - Shafali Verma vs SA, 2025
23y 235d - Jess Duffin vs WI, 2013
24y 337d - Nat Sciver-Brunt vs IND, 2017
25y 240d - Lisa Sthalekar vs IND, 2005
Indian Opening Batting Pairs With Most Runs In WODIs
Smriti Mandhana, Pratika Rawal - 1799 runs in 23 innings
Anju Jain, Jaya Sharma - 1229 runs in 27 innings
Karuna Jain, Jaya Sharma - 1169 runs in 25 innings
Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma - 1010 runs in 27 innings