The father of Shafali Verma, the player of the Women’s World Cup final, sums up her unforgettable night in an earthy tone. It’s quite a comeback story, indeed. Not selected for the tournament, she played domestic cricket in front of untenanted stands, piled on runs, bowled more often than before, and kept training at the nets. And hoped for redemption.
When it came — due to an injury to opener Pratika Rawal — Shafali stamped her presence in a historic final against South Africa with both bat (76-ball 87) and ball (two game-turning wickets). Both these performances were her best returns in One-Day Internationals, helping script a 52-run victory at Navi Mumbai’s D Y Patil Stadium as India became world champions for the first time.
One person who isn’t surprised by the 21-year-old’s fierce resolve is her father, Sanjeev. Last year, Sanjeev was admitted at a hospital after a heart attack when Shafali learnt that she had been dropped from the Indian team. She didn’t tell him for a week, as she feared for his health.
“It was a tough time for our family but she would not share with me that she had been dropped from the team,” says Sanjeev, speaking to The Indian Express from their home in Haryana’s Rohtak a day after the World Cup triumph. “Cricket has been a passion for me as well as her, and I don’t know how she hid the news from me.”
Once he learnt about it, Sanjeev did what he had always done — took Shafali to the nets. “When the doctors gave the go-ahead, I made her practise in a session 10 days after my heart attack, just to show her that all was fine. So that she does not have to worry about me and be stressed about my health,” he says.
But the World Cup call from the selectors never came. And so father and daughter went hard at work. She had even begun to bowl more in recent times, a fact that would play a big role in the World Cup final when she snared two vital wickets at a time when it seemed South Africa were on the ascendency in the chase.
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“When Shafali came in (to the squad), we saw that she was bowling a lot of overs in domestic cricket,” skipper Harmanpreet Kaur would say. “So, Sir (coach Amol Muzumdar) and I spoke to her about it, and she said, ‘Sir, I’m ready for 10 overs’.”
The memory of that confidence prompted Harmanpreet to throw the ball to Shafali in the heat of the final. And the rest is “herstory”.
The father asserts that the confidence to bowl under pressure or bat a bit differently — more solid as compared to the all-out attack of the past — stemmed from Shafali’s strong temperament.
“It came from Shafali only. Jitney bhi ups-and-lows dekhein hain Shafali ne, usne yahi seekha hai ki comeback usko hi karna padhega. (Through all her highs and lows, she has learnt that only she can make a comeback),” he says. Sanjeev helped by reminding her of all her past achievements. “I would talk about her winning the U-19 World Cup, taking the team to the 2020 T20 World Cup final and scoring the fastest women’s Test double hundred. I told her bus apne main, aur Bhagwan main vishwas rakh (just trust in God and yourself). Bus tu taiyar rehna (You be ready).”
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Shafali Verma with her parents and siblings earlier this year.
(Shafali Verma/Instagram)
In the days that followed after Shafali was dropped, in the BCCI One-Day Trophy, she amassed 527 runs at an average of 75.28, at a strike rate of 152.31. It included a knock of 197 in the quarter-final against eventual champions Bengal.
She didn’t stop there, tallying 414 runs at an average of 82.80 in the Women’s Challenger Trophy, and following it up with 306 in this year’s Women’s Premier League. When she wasn’t named in the World Cup squad, her father repeated his words, “Bus tu taiyyar rehna (You stay ready)”.
“She had come home on Diwali between tournaments and we would talk about how she should not leave her aggressive style of play, which has been her strength since her junior days. I also told her ‘shuru ke 2-4 over nikal diye, toh puri innings teri (If you stay for 2-4 overs, the full innings is yours)’. And when the call for the World Cup came, I told her that it was her hard work that had paid off, apart from our prayers,” he says.
As soon as she got the call for the World Cup, Sanjeev visited the Mansa Devi temple at Dehmi, in Rajasthan. He is now waiting for Shafali’s return, so that he can accompany her on another trip there. “We will visit the Mansa Devi temple as well as our guruji, Sant Rajinder Singh ji Maharaj, in Delhi,” he says.
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His temple visit earlier was to pray for success; the next visit will be one of gratitude.
