The 17-year-old Shafali Verma is all set to go ahead confidently with a busy international and franchise cricket this year. The young gun stated that she practices by facing 150 boncer deliveries at a time, and over and over again. Shafali has proved her potential in the T20Is by hitting the most number of sixes in the entire women’s cricket also helping India to enter their maiden T20 World Cup final. The 17-year-old has topped the ICC Women’s T20I Batting Rankings.
My target has been to take lessons from every series and keep improving as a cricketer. After the T20 World Cup, I worked on my skills, fitness, and choosing the right deliveries to play. I felt I did better there in the South Africa series. I could sense some improvement in my fielding as I had focused on working out and strengthening my body during last year’s lockdown.” Verma stated.
Shafali Verma has recently been promoted in her annual contract and has been boosted her salary by additional 20 Lakhs. Verma will now make her ODI debut and will be seen playing the longest format of the game as well in upcoming India’s tour to England.
Even in the tough times of the COVID pandemic when there is a scarcity of facilities, Verma’s longtime coach Ashwini Kumar comes to the rescue. the former Haryana’s first-class player helped the youngster by setting up nets and a bowling machine in his backyard to provide Verma with some extra batting sessions.
“There has been some struggle in my journey, but abhi jo time chal raha hai, usko dekhke khushi hai [I’m happy to see how things are going]. As Papa says, if I stay diligent, keep learning and work on my mistakes, I can do better and support the Indian team in every way I can.” Verma concluded.