India’s 17-year-old batting sensation Shafali Verma is well aware of her issues against the short-ball bowling type and has been training hard with India’s Under-25 bowlers to rectify it.
Verma, who made her international debut for India at the age of 15, has become a superstar and has formed a reliable, explosive opening partnership in women’s cricket alongside Smriti Mandhana.
However, Shafali has a chink in her armour, which was exploited by the opposing bowlers on the England and Australia tours. Verma was peppered with short pitch deliveries at her body, against which she didn’t look comfortable.
To rectify her weakness, Verma has been facing India’s Under-25 men’s bowlers, who can bowl at 125-130kmph consistently. She’s been going through gruelling sessions at Shri Ram Narain Cricket Academy in Gurugram under the observation of her coach Ashwani Kumar.
Speaking to PTI, after being named as a Hyundai brand ambassador alongside Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues and Taniya Bhatia, Shafali reiterated that she’s working on the issue but will not change her attacking gameplay.
“I know the areas of my game I need to get better at and one of them is playing the short ball. The coaches have also told me to play as per the ball and I will continue to do that.”
Shafali was seen backing away against the short deliveries against England and Australia, an approach that screams weakness. Shafali has been facing short pitch bowling on cemented, astroturf and normal pitches while negotiating higher speedster from men’s players.
“I won’t back away that much going forward. You will see me shuffling around the crease a lot more and play as per the merit of the ball.”
Before the England tour, Verma had trained with the Haryana men’s team, where she had worked on her backfoot game against the likes of Harshal Patel and Mohit Sharma. She had also worked on her fitness in that camp, which she credited to have helped her a great deal.
Verma’s opening partner, Mandhana is striving to bring more consistency to her game. The superstar opener said that it took her a while to get into the groove coming from a Covid-19 break.
“I’m really happy with the way I have been timing the ball, but you have to be more consistent and that’s something I want to work on, closing games on a regular basis especially the tight finishes,”
Mandhana said.
