Alongside Alyssa Healy, Shafali Verma is the most formidable batter in women's cricket.
Donning India Blues at 15
It is no joke to receive a national call up, particularly in a country like India, at the age of 15. Shafali Verma achieved the feat when she impressed one and all in the exhibition Women's T20 Challenge in 2019.
She has been going from strength to strength from there on and also made it to the Indian side, first for the T20 World Cup and then in the ODI World Cup of 2022.
Working on weaknesses
Here, Verma expresses her love for facing fast bowling.
"I am always ready for any kind situation I am thrown into. The coaches back me in the nets. They always encourage me and work with me on my strong points and lose points. They always make sure to speak to the out-of-form players and try to boost their confidence, which is a good thing. As a player, you derive a lot of confidence through such interactions. When I was out, I was going through a bad time. So I was focusing on my processes and when you go through such patches it's important to work on your process. I worked on my mistakes, and tried to improve on a day-by-day basis, and I am doing that even now - physically, mentally and skills-wise."
"Every time we go out there to bat, our focus remains on building partnerships, supporting the other batters, and backing each other. Whatever happens, we try to back each other, and we want to do that as a batting unit through partnerships, too. I have worked on playing short balls. I have improved but want to keep getting better at it, whether that be against the short ball or a strong point of mine. I always love to play hard balls and good bowlers. I enjoy facing them."
Pummelling bowlers in T20 WC
Verma did exceedingly well in the T20 World Cup. More than the runs she scored, it was the manner in which she did it, hitting boundaries for fun.
Her strike rate was the best in the tournament, even ahead of some of the best strikers in women's cricket like Deandra Dotting and Alyssa Healy.
With time, the bowlers exposed her weakness against the short delivery. She went back to the drawing board and worked to improve it, playing against domestic men's cricketers who bowled at 130 kph and above consistently.
