India’s Cricket World Cup star Shafali Verma once disguised herself as a boy to play
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India's Shafali Verma (right) celebrates with her captain Harmanpreet Kaur after taking the wicket of South Africa's Sune Luus.
PHOTO: AFP
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NEW DELHI – Drafted into the India squad as a late replacement, Shafali Verma more than justified her selection for their Women’s Cricket World Cup campaign – she went on to help her country make history.
The batter, 21, was named Player of the Match, as India beat South Africa by 52 runs before a sold-out 45,000 crowd at Mumbai’s D.Y. Patil Stadium to win the tournament for the first time on Nov 2.
She scored an attacking 87 and took two crucial wickets with her part-time off-spin, as the hosts posted 298-7 and then bowled South Africa out for 246 in 45.3 overs in the final.
With spinner Deepti Sharma taking five wickets after earlier contributing a vital run-a-ball 58 in the middle order, the duo helped India erase the heartbreak of their runner-up finishes in 2005 and 2017.
That earned a glowing tribute from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the adulation of a nation.
Mr Modi said on social media: “The team showed exceptional teamwork and tenacity throughout the tournament. Congratulations to our players. This historic win will motivate future champions to take up sports.”
The Board of Control for Cricket in India announced the team would receive a reward of 510 million Indian rupees (S$7.49 million) for their title, a victory which the Indian Express newspaper termed “Herstoric” on its front page.
India’s win also brought home a record-breaking US$4.48 million (S$5.84 million) in prize money, the highest for any Cricket World Cup. The total prize pool for the 2025 edition was US$13.88 million.
Verma, the star of their historic feat, has given India many blazing starts since her international debut aged just 15, but fell out of favour with the selectors in the 50-over format because of patchy form.
However, fate had different plans. An injury to in-form opener Pratika Rawal just before the knockout stage forced India to replace her with Verma.
She made just 10 in India’s stunning victory over holders Australia in the semi-finals, but rose to the occasion in the title clash with her career-best ODI (one day international) score.
“I said at the start that God has sent me here to do something nice, and that reflected today,” Verma said. “It was difficult but I had confidence in myself – that if I can stay calm, I could achieve everything.”
Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur handed Verma the ball in the 20th over and she delivered immediately with the wicket of Sune Luus.
She then got Marizanne Kapp caught behind on a ball sliding down the leg side in her next over.
“We had spoken to her that, if needed, she will bowl one or two overs and in reply she said, ‘I am ready to bowl 10 overs’,” Harmanpreet revealed.
“I gave her the bowl at a crucial time and the back-to-back breakthroughs was the turning point for us.”
It has been a roller-coaster ride for Verma, who is from the conservative northern state of Haryana.
As a nine-year-old, she played in a boys’ tournament after cutting her hair short so she could get a game.
“I told my father that I will go and play disguised as my brother (who was sick) and even had his name on my back,” Verma told AFP in 2020.
“I played and became Man of the Match and series.”
On Nov 2, her Player of the Match performance has resulted in a breakthrough, which Harmanpreet believes is “just the beginning”.
“We have been talking about this for many years – we’ve been playing good cricket, but we had to win one big tournament,” the batter said. “Without that, we couldn’t talk about change.”
The fairy-tale triumph of the Indian men’s team at the 1983 World Cup is considered the catalyst for the country’s rise to becoming a powerhouse of the game, both on and off the pitch, and batting great Sachin Tendulkar said the women’s win was “a defining moment in the journey of Indian women’s cricket”.
“1983 inspired an entire generation to dream big and chase those dreams,” he wrote on social media. “Today, our women’s cricket team has done something truly special.
“They have inspired countless young girls across the country to pick up a bat and ball, take the field and believe that they too can lift that trophy one day...”
Meanwhile, South African opener Laura Wolvaardt hopes they will bounce back from this defeat.
“We’ve played some brilliant cricket throughout but we were outplayed today, India played fantastically well,” she said. AFP
