“I will take inspiration from the Under-19 World Cup last year,” Shafali told ESPNcricinfo during the QUA shoot in Delhi. “Yes, it was a big thing for women’s cricket in India that we won the 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.
“What we are focusing on now is to win the game [World Cup] cup. Individual goals and records are part of the game. But there is no better feeling than winning for your team, and that night I sleep well.”
Shafali was part of the Indian team’s camp at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru ahead of the T20 World Cup, which will run from October 3 to 20 in Sharjah and Dubai. He has not played competitive cricket since the T20 Asia Cup in July, and having not featured in the Hundred and not entered his name in next season’s WBBL draft, he has been using this time to work. depending on different ways.
“I’m not playing WBBL and Hundred because I’m working on my strength and my mind,” he said. “But even playing those tournaments, I learned that fitness is very important because if you want to play long balls then fitness is very important.”
Another highlight of Shafali was recently when he scored a double against South Africa in the Test match held in June.
“That day I told myself that I have to play a long innings, and not let go of that opportunity,” he said. “I don’t know how many bad episodes and struggles I went through before that, and knocks like that are rare. But that day everything was going well and my goal was to play as long as possible.”
Speaking about consistency, he said, “At the beginning of my career, I would just go out and hit, but now I have made some changes in my mind. Now I have a game to block and deliver a few, I can. play down again. You change when you make mental changes in your game. I hope to continue this consistency and do well for the team.
“It’s not like if something comes naturally you don’t have to work hard at it. As you work on your weaknesses, you have to work on your strengths.”
Shafali Verma in his power play
“The T20 World Cup in 2020 was my first World Cup and at that time I was chasing every ball. At the beginning of your career, something like that might work, but after a point the opponents start doing video analysis and they can’t solve your game. when it comes to your strengths and your weaknesses I didn’t do that well in the 2023 T20 World Cup but I learned a lot from that tournament.
“Now people have started to say that my consistency has improved and in the last three to four years I have learned how important consistency is. I am only 20 years old and I plan to improve on the learning of the last three to four years. .”
Shafali’s USP, right from her early days in the Women’s T20 Challenge that led to her debut for India at the age of 15 in 2019, has been hitting hard, something she does not want to let go of.
“These types of things you learn from a young age and I have worked hard on them,” he said. “Now it’s natural for me. But it’s not like if something comes naturally you don’t have to work hard at it. As you work on your weaknesses, you have to work on your strengths. So the truth is that I learned this from childhood and now it’s natural to me.”
Daya Sagar is the associate editor at ESPNcricinfo Hindi and Vishal Dikshit is the assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo.
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