One-dayers remain an unsolved puzzle for Shafali Verma

Chennai: In Jan 2023, when Shafali Verma hoisted the Under-19 Women’s T20 World Cup trophy in South Africa, with tears of joy, she said: “This is just the beginning.” The journey from that “beginning,” though, turned far bumpier than the young opening batter could have imagined, culminating in her getting dropped from the India squad for the ODI World Cup at home starting in September. With lean returns in ODIs and a dismal show at home against New Zealand, the axe fell in Nov last year. Shafali was dropped from the ODI squad for the Australia tour and remained out of favour. Her last half-century came in 2022. When the door closed, Shafali turned to domestic cricket and emerged as the leading run-scorer in a format that has troubled her the most. She piled up 527 runs at a strike rate of 152.31 in the One-dayers for Haryana, including a 197 off 115 balls. In March, donning Delhi Capitals jersey in the WPL, she finished as the fourth-highest run-getter overall. In July this year, Shafali roared back in Indian colours and showed flashes of her swagger during the T20I series in England. For all her flair in the shortest format, ODIs remain Shafali’s unsolved puzzle. The batter has managed an average of 23 in 29 matches, and on the recent India A tour of Australia, her performance was underwhelming. So, when her name went missing from the upcoming home ODI World Cup squad, it hardly raised eyebrows. In her place came Pratika Rawal, who made her debut last year, and has made her case with steady returns at an average of 54. The 21-year-old Shafali needs to crack the 50-over format, according to WV Raman, who was India women’s head coach when a 15-year-old Shafali first broke into the scene. Shafali was India’s leading run-getter in the 2020 T20 World Cup, a campaign where India went all the way to the final under Raman’s watch. “She has to work her way back into the team by working on her shortcomings. Basically, she needs to put up consistent performances in the 50-over format as Pratika has grabbed her opportunities and displaced Shafali. “The other area that needs improvement is her fielding. What is important is for her is to fight her way back into the team. And she was given a fair bit of leeway when she started. A setback is always good to make a strong comeback,” Raman told TOI. Shafali, who as a kid once walked into an under-12 all-boys local tournament and walked out with the ‘Man of the Match’ and ‘Man of the Series’ medal, has always carried the same audacity to the international stage. Today, even as she faces the first big setback of her international career, the fierce and spunky prodigy still has age and time to turn things around. Shantha Rangaswamy, former chief selector, is confident of Shafali’s comeback. “She’s very talented but she needs to score consistently. Unless she does that, it won’t be fair to drop Pratika, who has done very well. My advice to her is: ‘You (Shafali) have age on your side, you are a talented cricketer, you just need to keep building scores consistently.’ I feel she will definitely make a comeback, because she is a huge talent,” said Shantha, the first captain of the Indian women’s cricket team.