With the upcoming three-match One-Day International (ODI) series against Australia, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has named a 16-player squad for the upcoming series scheduled from December 5 to 11, 2024. The squad includes several unexpected changes, including the brave omission of dynamic opener Shafali Verma.
Shafali Verma made her ODI debut against England in Bristol on June 27, 2021. The 20-year-old has been excluded from India’s squad for the upcoming ODI series in Australia. Her omission follows a string of poor performances, including a modest tally of 56 runs in the recent 3-match home ODI series against New Zealand. Verma’s last half-century in ODIs came in July 2022, since then she has struggled to contribute. Shafali was even dropped for the last two ODIs of the home series against Australia in December 2023, where she failed to contribute and scored only a run against 5 balls. Notably, her scores in her last 10 ODIs read – 12, 11, 33, 25, 20, 7, 1, 4, 0, 8.
Shafali has displayed a mixed run of performances in her recent Women’s ODIs matches, with recent contributions in the three-match series against New Zealand in Ahmedabad showcasing her aggressive batting style. She scored 33 runs off 22 balls at an impressive strike rate of 150.00 in the first match, hitting five fours and a six but in the following games, she made just runs off 11 runs off 9 balls (SR 122.22) and 12 runs off 11 balls (SR 109.09), but failed to contribute.
In India’s previous encounter against South Africa, Shafali scored just 7 off 12 in the ODI series opener, 20 off 38 in another and in the 3rd and final ODI she scored 25 off 39 balls, failing to convert her starts. Her struggles were evident from late 2023 and mid-2022 series against Australia, Bangladesh and England, with a tough series against England, where she struggled to get going, scoring only 1 run off 6 balls, 8 runs off 7 followed by a duck in the third game, highlighting her challenges. In 2023, she faced the same struggles with form in the series against Bangladesh, where she managed 4 runs off 3 balls but a tough outing against Australia at Wankhede, where she scored just 1 off 5 balls, further underscored her inconsistency
Though Shafali has demonstrated moments of brilliance, like her explosive knock (33) against New Zealand, but her inconsistency points to areas for improvement, which are crucial for solidifying her role as a dependable opener for India in the format.
Another prominent omission from the 16-member squad is the highly regarded off-spinner Shreyanka Patil, who was absent from the 3rd ODI of New Zealand series due to shin splints. She had only returned to action in the T20 World Cup after recovering from a hand injury. D. Hemalatha, Uma Chetry, and Sayali Satghare are the other players excluded from the squad that handed New Zealand a 1-2 series defeat.
India’s Squad for the Australia tour 2024:
Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Smriti Mandhana (VC), Priya Punia, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harleen Deol, Yastika Bhatia (WK), Richa Ghosh (WK), Tejal Hasabnis, Deepti Sharma, Minnu Mani, Priya Mishra, Radha Yadav, Titas Sadhu, Arundhati Reddy, Renuka Singh Thakur, Saima Thakor
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