Birthday special: Shafali Verma – India’s future superstar

The ICC Women’s World Cup 2022 will be played in New Zealand from 4 March to 3 April. England will be defending the title. India, who had finished as the runners-up in the 2017 edition, would be hoping to go a step further and manage a podium finish. Mithali Raj will be leading the Indian team in the mega event.

While all eyes will be on the Indian eves as well as the veterans, the focus will also be on a young and promising batter who is touted as the ‘next big thing’ of the country’s women’s team and she is none other than Shafali Verma.

Shafali Verma braces up for her biggest challenge

As Shafali Verma turns 18 on Friday, the new batting sensation would be expected to rise to the occasion in the upcoming quadrennial event. Just like how her opening partner Smriti Mandhana had set the stage on fire in the 2017 event, Shafali would also be looking forward to making a tremendous impact in this competition. The youngster already has the experience of having shone on the grandest stage – the Women’s T20 World Cup 2020 down under.

The Haryana cricketer had an excellent tournament as she amassed 163 runs from five games averaging 32.60 and an astonishing strike rate of 158.25 including nine sixes. While Verma stunned the opposition teams with her amazing six-hitting abilities, she had an off-day in the final at the iconic MCG as she could only manage two runs and was already in the dugout in the first over of India’s chase as Harmanpreet Kaur & Co. eventually lost by a mammoth 85 runs.

In the upcoming Women’s ODI World Cup in New Zealand, Shafali Verma promises to take her experience of playing in a major tournament to the next level as the Women In Blue hope to get third time lucky having finished second-best in the 2005 and 2017 editions respectively.