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Shafali Verma was dropped from India’s ODI and T20I squads for the series against Australia and West Indies.
Shafali Verma. (Picture Credit: PTI)
Haryana captain Shafali Verma answered her critics with her bat with a stunning 115-ball 197 in the Senior Women’s One Day Trophy Quarter-Final against Bengal on Monday. Her knock, coming only days after she was left out from the national white-ball squads, included 22 boundaries and a whopping 11 sixes, and came at a strike rate of over 170.
Mita Paul dismissed her three short of a double century in the 39th over but her knock allowed Haryana to post a mammoth 395/5 on the board. Typically, all of her sixes came down the ground on the leg side, while the boundaries were distributed all around the Niranjan Shah Stadium Ground C in Rajkot. Interestingly, though she took 43 singles in the marathon knock, none of her runs came in doubles or triples.
Shafali hit at least one six against each of the seven Bengal bowlers but took particular liking to Sushmita Ganguly (three sixes) and Prativa Mandi (eight boundaries). Her partnership with opening partner Reema Sisodia yielded 173 (141) runs for Haryana, of which Shafali scored 106 (69). Sonia Mendhiya provided a big finish to the innings with her half-century.
Shafali couldn’t find a place in India’s squads for the ODI series against Australia and more surprisingly, for the ensuing T20I rubber against the West Indies, despite being one of the Women in Blue’s leading run-scorers this year in the shortest format. Ahead of the Australia series, skipper Harmanpreet Kaur had thrown her weight behind the Haryana opener.
“She (Shafali) is a very important player for us and has done exceptionally well for the country. We are looking forward to seeing her get back into her zone and perform well for the team,” Harmanpreet said on the eve of their series-opener.
However, when further pressed about her absence ahead of the West Indies T20Is, the skipper deflected the question.
“I can only talk about the team, (the) team is here and what (all) things we can do to win this series. Regarding Shefali or any other player, (it is) better to ask the right persons,” she said.
After clinching the T20Is 2-1, the India women are currently playing a three-ODI series against the Windies. They won the first game on Sunday by 211 runs. Pratika Rawal opened in Shafali’s place, scoring 40 (69).
