“Of all the hardships a person had to face, none was more punishing than the simple act of waiting.” Khaled Hosseini’s soulful prose from A Thousand Splendid Suns can very well be the tagline of the year gone by for India’s Shafali Verma.

Dropped from the ODI setup in October 2024 ahead of a crucial tour of Australia due to inconsistent form, she spent the next 12 months determined to prove to the selectors, the leadership group, and herself that she belonged in the 50-over game. That her father, her biggest cheerleader, had suffered a cardiac arrest days before the news of her axing only made it a more tempestuous time for the then 20-year-old.

Imperious performances followed in the domestic circuit, where she topped the run charts in the Senior One Day Trophy with 527 runs in seven games with a highest score of 197, an astounding average of 75.29, all while striking at 152.31. She also finished as the highest scorer in the One Day Challenger, with 414 runs in five games, averaging 82.80 and striking upwards of 140.

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Having broken into the scene at just 15, Shafali was a Twenty20 spectator’s delight, but mastery over ODIs evaded her. In 29 internationals, she had just 644 runs to her name, averaging a poor 23.00. Her quintessential quick-scoring quirks were on display here too, but ODIs demanded staying in for the long haul.

Shunted back to the domestic circuit to improve her gains didn’t help as well, as a promising opening partner for Smriti Mandhana emerged in Pratika Rawal. The omission from the squad for a home ODI World Cup was the final nail in the coffin.

Or so it would seem.

A freak injury on a wet outfield to Pratika meant the Indian management turned back to the very player it cast aside, who now faces the humongous task of settling back in an outfit she has not featured in for the massive semifinal encounter against Australia. Whoever is writing this script must be rubbing their hands in glee.

Shafali, who was with the Haryana State team in Surat for the Senior Women’s T20 Trophy, was back in her hotel room after the day’s play was washed out when the call came to pack and head to Navi Mumbai.

“The only message we gave her was to stay positive and play well,” Mahipal Singh, coach of the Haryana women’s side, told Sports stars. “She has been out of the team for so long. That’s a lesson for her. She’s not someone to take the burden of pressure on herself; other teams go under pressure hearing her name.”

Shafali sits atop the batting pile here with 341 runs in nine games, with an imperious 180+ strike rate. Mahipal noted that plenty of work has been put in behind the scenes to pair her aggression with responsibility.

“We’ve told her to always finish the game when she gets on the field. That will breed consistency. There are times when you feel good in the middle, your strike rate is looking healthy, but your wicket falls early. You need to know the value of your own wicket, that’s been the biggest brief for her: to play according to the situation.”

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“Understanding that will only come from playing more cricket. You fall, you learn, you get up. The issue is that you need to balance this understanding with not giving up the natural aggressive nature of your cricket. That becomes the challenge,” he added.

Shafali, now leaner, has been working on her fitness levels and endurance, Mahipal revealed. A few technical tweaks have also been done.

Come Thursday and the true test of Shafali’s character awaits.
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“She is trying to hit the ball straighter. She has worked on her head position, which was a bit back before. She now places her head slightly forward, so the height and length perception she has of the ball has changed a little,” he explained.

Her approach is not flawed. Even Australia’s Alyssa Healy works with a similar brief at the top of the order, with the freedom to go berserk in the PowerPlay and give her side a jumpstart in the PowerPlay. The difference is that Healy does have the ability to change gears when required and has the skills to take her innings into the 40th over and beyond. Shafali is still at the base of that hill.

“At whatever level, players need to know that there are 300 deliveries to be played. The idea is not to give away any overs to the opponent,” Mahipal said.

Come Thursday and the true test of Shafali’s character awaits. In the 2020 T20 World Cup in Australia, Shafali was front and centre of India’s run to the final. The fiercest side in the women’s game knows what they’re up against in this determined and hungry 21-year-old. She would want that to reflect in her ODI record against the defending champion, too. In five games against them, she has just 99 runs with a dismal 19.80 average and an uncharacteristic 68.27 strike rate. The semifinal presents an exciting and daunting opportunity in equal measure to a youngster who looks at everything with a “I’ll do it” attitude.

One of her biggest cheerleaders, former India head coach W.V. Raman, will be watching keenly.

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“In Shafali’s case, this is a time where she can really reflect on how she wants to play this game going ahead and what she needs to do to be a maverick and yet belong in a setup where mavericks are not generally preferred,” he told Sports stars ahead of the showpiece event.

“I would encourage her not to let go of her basic style and attitude; it’s unique. She shouldn’t try and become a very good imitation of somebody. She can be a number two original, which is fantastic, rather than being a number one imitation of somebody,” he added.

Shafali was the captain when India won its first U-19 Women’s T20 World Cup, the first ICC silverware for the women’s game in India. Raman remains confident Shafali will be at the forefront of many more such triumphs.

If Navi Mumbai 2025 will be one of them remains to be seen.

Published on Oct 28, 2025