Shafali Verma has been the talk of the town, and it is for the right reasons, deservingly so. The youngster has over 50 caps for the senior team across formats and has impressed everyone with her captaincy and gameplay in the U19 World Cup, which has really set her apart.
Recently leading India to an iconic win at the U19 Women’s T20 World Cup, she will also be joining the senior women’s team for the Women’s T20 World Cup. But what is concerning is the back-and-forth traveling that she has had to do since winning the World Cup, which should hopefully not prove to be detrimental and fatiguing for the star batter.
India won the U-19 World Cup on 29th January, and within a span of a few days, the duo of Richa Ghosh and Shafali Verma were flown to India for a felicitation program on February 1st at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad before the men’s India versus New Zealand game was scheduled.
India U19 Women’s cricket team handed over a cheque worth INR 5 Crores by BCCI as prize money.
Sachin Tendulkar was present to felicitate the India U19 girls. #INDvNZ #CricketTwitter pic.twitter.com/pzIjKuqf1y
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) February 1, 2023
The event witnessed the likes of legendary batter Sachin Tendulkar and other BCCI stalwarts and office holders like Roger Binny, the President of BCCI, and Jay Shah, the Secretary of BCCI and Rajeev Shukla, to name a few, to honor this historic feat and awarded the winning team a cash prize of Rs. 5 Crores for this iconic feat.
Shafali Verma being her candid self shared, “Abb senior World Cup title Jeena hai, Richa”, which translates to “it’s time to win the senior World Cup now, Richa”, and this shows the zeal, passion, and commitment of Shafali, who has her sights set on a bigger win, World Cup glory, something that has eluded India for a long time in an ICC event. After attending the event for a few hours and engaging in some more press conferences and media commitments, Shafali Verma and Richa Ghosh traveled back to South Africa for the World Cup that gets underway in exactly about a week.
Hopefully, Shafali Verma and Richa Ghosh get enough time to rest and recuperate, and India will certainly be hoping for the dynamic duo to put their best foot forward and take India to unchartered territory, and that of winning the World Cup will cap off what has been a long-awaited dream.
I am a first year postgraduate student pursuing a MA in Media and Communication Studies at Christ University, Bengaluru. I am a podcaster, blogger and an avid cricket fan. When not glued to cricket matches, you can find me submerged in books and thinking about cricket all the time.