NEW DELHI: Shafali Verma’s journey to World Cup glory is nothing short of remarkable. Initially left out of India’s Women’s World Cup squad, the 21-year-old opener made a stunning return as an injury replacement — and ended up scripting history.
In the final against South Africa on Sunday, Verma smashed a blazing 87 runs and took two vital wickets with her part-time off-spin, earning the Player of the Match award as India clinched their maiden Women’s World Cup title in front of a packed DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai.
Since making her international debut at just 16, Verma has been known for giving India explosive starts. However, inconsistent performances in the 50-over format led to her being dropped from the squad.
Fate, though, had other plans. When in-form opener Pratika Rawal was injured during the last league match, Verma was called back — and she made the most of her second chance.
Although she scored only 10 runs in India’s semi-final win against Australia, she delivered when it mattered most — producing her career-best ODI score in the championship match.
“I said from the beginning that God sent me here to do something special — and today it happened,” Verma said after the match.
“It wasn’t easy, but I believed in myself. I knew that if I stayed calm, I could achieve anything.”
Her magical day continued with the ball. Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur handed her the ball in the 20th over — and Verma immediately struck, dismissing Sune Luus with a sharp caught-and-bowled effort. She then removed Marizanne Kapp in her next over, changing the course of the game.
“We had told her she might need to bowl a few overs, and she said, ‘I’m ready to bowl 10!’,” Kaur shared.
“That confidence made the difference. Her back-to-back wickets were the turning point.”
From Disguise to Destiny
Verma’s rise has been full of challenges. Growing up in Haryana, a deeply traditional state, she first played cricket disguised as a boy.
At just nine years old, she cut her hair short to join a boys’ tournament.
“I told my father I would play pretending to be my brother, who was sick — even wore his name on my jersey,” Verma recalled in an interview with AFP in 2020.
“I ended up being named both ‘man of the match’ and ‘man of the series.’”
Her family’s early struggles were immense — her father Sanjeev Verma once lost all their savings to a scammer who had promised him a job.
Despite the hardships, Verma rose steadily. Before Sunday’s final, her ODI average was a modest 22.55, and her highest score was 71 not out. But her 49-ball half-century in the final was her first in three years — and at 21 years and 278 days, she became the youngest player ever to score a fifty in a Women’s ODI World Cup final.
Verma’s career first took off in 2019, when she was picked for the Velocity team in the Women’s T20 Challenge — the event that paved the way for the Women’s Premier League (WPL). There, she shared the field with Indian legend Mithali Raj and played alongside global stars like England’s Danielle Wyatt, who once called her the “next superstar of Indian cricket.”
