21-year-old Shafali Verma (Source: AFP)
Coming in as Pratika Rawal’s injury replacement for the rest of the Women’s World Cup 2025, 21-year-old Shafali Verma was welcomed with an over-analysed warm-up session. The confident striker of the ball looked silent and uncharacteristically isolated.
In the semi-final played at Navi Mumbai against the mighty Australia, Shafali was sent in to open the innings with her former counterpart, Smriti Mandhana. Having played the last game on 29th October, 2024, against England, Verma’s innings was far from ideal after exact one-year-break: she could only manage 10 runs off five balls while chasing a monumental target of 339.
A meteoric rise fell short in WODIs for Shafali Verma
Due to a dip in form and questions about her fitness, Shafali saw a drop from India's ODI squad towards the end of last year, but an unexpected injury to India’s current opener, Pratika Rawal, worked to her advantage.
Featuring in the latest Women's World Cup in New Zealand in 2022, the right-handed batter from Haryana merely managed 107 runs at an average of 26.75, including only a quickfire half-century against South Africa during the league stage.
While her opening partner was redefining her career with incredible knocks, Verma’s poor performances kept jarring and became too hard to ignore. With only 12 months for the home World Cup, India’s attempt to find a replacement landed them a technically sound and quick on the field Pratika Rawal from Delhi.
Women’s World Cup 2025 final: Big stage with bigger load
25-year-old Pratika grabbed the opportunity with both hands, proving her mettle at the highest stage very early in her career. Becoming the joint-fastest woman (and fastest Indian woman) to reach 1,000 runs in Women's One-Day Internationals (WODIs) in just 23 innings, equaling Lindsay Reeler's 1988 record.
Notably, Indian cricket saw a similar instance when greats Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan’s opening duo established itself, leaving India in no need to look for another option, for a prolonged period of time.
That being said, with Rawal checking all the boxes that Verma lacked, despite ample chances, an ODI return for the latter looked uncertain. Nonetheless, the backdoor entry, an opportunity born out of India's misfortune and Verma's timely slice of luck, as Shafali herself said, “God has brought me here”, the final of the Women’s World Cup 2025 played at D.Y.Patil Stadium stands as the make-or-break opportunity for Shafali Verma.
