For a while, the Women’s ODI World Cup 2025 felt like the script of a film. A struggling hero is sent back to the drawing board to fix deficiencies, and suddenly, a call comes to deliver for the nation at the hardest stage of all – a World Cup.

This is Shafali Verma’s reality. She led India to its first silverware for the women when she lifted the U19 T20 World Cup trophy in South Africa a few years ago. On Sunday, she was front and centre of a 52-run win over South Africa in the summit clash, with a 78-ball 87 and two crucial wickets.

“God has sent me here to do something nice, just happy I could make the team win,” she said after the win.

At 21 years and 278 days, Shafali is the youngest to win the Player-of-the-Match award at a Women’s World Cup final. She and Deepti Sharma became the only players to score more than fifty runs and take two or more wickets in the tournament’s finals history.

A week ago, she was playing the Senior Women’s T20 Trophy, out of the Indian ODI setup for a year. A freak fracture to Pratika Rawal opened the door.

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More than her half-century, her first since 2022, it was her instant impact with the ball that left the Proteas stunned — an inspired call from Harmanpreet Kaur, who decided to trust her gut.

“When Shafali joined the team, we were missing the overs from Pratika. Shafali has been bowling a lot in domestic cricket. When Amol (Muzumdar) sir spoke to her, she said, “I’m ready for 10 overs,” Harmanpreet said after the game.

“I didn’t want to go back to the room, thinking why I didn’t try. Those back-to-back wickets (of Sune Luus and Marizanne Kapp) were a turning point for us,” she added.

Coach Muzumdar has always maintained that Shafali was never out of the ODI scheme of things. “If you look at it positively, a player as good as Shafali not finding a place in the 15 is such a good sign,” he said.

“It’s all destiny. When Pratika got injured, we were all gutted. This team prays for each other, stays together through ups and downs. First Yastika Bhatia and then Pratika. When Shafali came, we didn’t want her to feel that she came in under an injury cloud.

“Everybody was so positive. Everyone was thinking that our end goal was this trophy, and we worked day and night. This is the result,” Harmanpreet added.

Published on Nov 04, 2025