Shafali looks to drop birthday bomb

PTI

Potchefstroom, January 28

Batting sensation Shafali Verma will chase history when she leads India against England in the inaugural ICC U-19 Women’s T20 World Cup final here tomorrow.

Though it has made significant advances at the international level, no Indian women’s cricket team has ever won a World Cup at any level. The young Verma, who has been part of two World Cup and one CWG finals with the senior team, will look to bring the elusive title home.

The seniors have made the World Cup final on three occasions across formats, only to return with bitter memories. They lost to Australia by 98 runs in 2005 and by nine runs to England in 2017 in the ODI format; in the T20 format, they went down to the Aussies by 85 runs in the 2020 final.

The youngster from Rohtak has been part of two World Cups across formats and also witnessed another final defeat when India had to settle for silver in last year’s Birmingham CWG.

Verma does not want to let go of the opportunity this time.

“Haan bahut finals khele hai (Yes, I’ve played a lot of finals),” Verma, who turned 19 today, said on the eve of the final. “It’s about going out there and enjoying the game. I’ve told the teammates: ‘Don’t stress, just give your 100 per cent without thinking of it as the final. Just believe in yourself.’”

“It’s all past and that cannot be recreated. We are determined to bring the World Cup this time and are trying to improve day by day,” she added.

India suffered their sole defeat in this tournament in the Super Six league stage, losing to Australia after being bowled out for 87.

“We had nervous moments and couldn’t sleep, thinking about whether we could make the final or not... But we have learnt from the mistakes and here we are. Now we’re all very confident and clear of our roles,” said Verma. “Everyone is enjoying each other’s company and staying normal. We are not thinking much.”

India will be up against a strong England side that topped its Super Six group by winning all the four matches, eventually edging out Australia by three runs in the semifinals.