'Destiny’s child' Shafali Verma thrives in God’s plan

Navi Mumbai: If Shafali Verma decides to sport a tattoo that reads "God's Plan", no one can possibly disagree that it is an apt messaging.

'Destiny's child' Shafali Verma found her way back into the Indian women's ODI side in unfortunate circumstances but left an indelible mark on the team’s victorious World Cup campaign, thriving in "God's Plan" which can work in mysterious ways.

On a rainy August afternoon in Mumbai, former chairperson of selectors Neetu David had assured the media that Shafali will get her chance to play for India after she confirmed the exclusion of the 21-year-old from India’s World Cup squad, despite having played five of those events across formats.

Shafali had blown hot and cold in the opportunities that she got but more importantly, her absence from the ODI side was met with Pratika Rawal’s impressive rise, and the selectors had kept the decision on the former for another day.

But as it panned out, an unfortunate injury to in-form opener Pratika sent India back to ensuring Shafali, who was busy representing Haryana in the Senior Women’s T20 Tournament in Surat, joined the Indian squad ahead of their World Cup semifinal against Australia as soon as she could.

Shafali had no spare time to waste as she clocked in two separate one-hour batting sessions here at the DY Patil Stadium and it's University Ground ahead of the semifinal.

“What happened with Pratika, as a sportsperson, it wasn't a good thing. No one wants any sportsperson to sustain such an injury. But God has sent me here to do something good,” Shafali told the media prior to the semi-final.

While her promising comeback lasted only five balls including two fours for 10 runs against Australia, it was in the final where Shafali played a knock akin to a seasoned player with several years of experience behind her.

Shafali’s 87, in which she played some spectacular shots as well as farmed the strike, set the platform even though India managed an under-par 298/7 in their bid to set a big target.

But interestingly, a few very outside the playing group knew Shafali, who had rolled over her arms only five times in 30 ODIs before Sunday’s final, was also going to chip in as the sixth bowler.

“When Shafali joined the team, we were missing the overs from Pratika. So, when Shafali came in, we saw that she was bowling a lot of overs in domestic cricket. Sir and I spoke to her about it, and she said, ‘I’m ready for (even) 10 overs’. That shows how confident she was to bowl,” skipper Harmanpreet shared with the media later.

“When that partnership started (between Laura Wolvaardt and Sune Luus, who added 52 runs for the fourth wicket) in the middle, suddenly I got the thought that I should give Shafali a try to see what happens." “It was a gut feeling. I didn’t want to go back to the (dressing) room later thinking, “Why didn’t I try?” because they were looking good and when I gave her that over and she got back-to-back breakthroughs, that was the turning point for us,” Harmanpreet said.

Head coach Amol Muzumdar said he was following Shafali’s progress in the Senior Women’s T20 Trophy, which helped India to settle the debate of a sixth bowler.

“When she walked in into the team, we knew that she's bowling in domestic cricket. I did ask her and I followed her in domestic cricket that she was bowling all four overs in a T20 game. All four overs (and) every game she bowled," Muzumdar told media later.

"We knew that a sixth bowler will end up bowling only 4-5 overs so if Shefali is doing the job, she's either the 6th or the 7th bowling option.

But the decision to introduce her today was entirely Harman’s,” he added.

Only time would tell if Shafali would retain her place in the side or make way for whenever Pratika, who has an impressive opening record with Smriti Mandhana, returns but for now the 21-year-old is back in the business.