Danni Wyatt suggests that it is the mind games that will play a key role for Australia to stop India’s young star Shafali Verma at the Sunday’s ICC Women’s T20 World Cup final.
England skipper Danielle has shared the dressing room with Shafali at 2019 Women’s T20 Challenge. She observed Verma closely and analyzed her uniqueness.
The 16-year-old who command’s world attention with her 161 runs at T20 World Cup is a threat to the Australian squad.
Danni believes that one can only trick the Haryana girl mentally as nothing else can stop her fearless game.
“It’s obvious what her weaknesses are and Shafali knows what they are,” said Wyatt.
“The Aussies have tried to bowl to those areas in the past. You’ve got to play a few mind games with her and hope she spoons one up. When she fails, she’s so hard on herself. I just tell her to relax and that it’s only cricket.” said Wyatt
“When you’re opening the batting in T20, it can be brutal because your role is to go hard and you’re always going to fail. She’s very hard on herself when she does.” She added
Shafali watched Sachin Tendulkar in his final first-class game for Mumbai in 2013. She was only 9 years old when the legend inspired her and her cricket journey began. Moreover, meeting the master blaster in Australia was a special tour for Verma.
Her story runs parallel to the growth of Women’s cricket in India. The teenager’s talent was enhanced by coaches, analysts, and physios at Shri Ram Narain CC. She would practice at the nets for two hours straight.
Danni revealed that she would brutally hit against men bowlers, improving her power and performance. Watching her practice convinced Wyatt that she was phenomenal.
“Even before the session, she’d go to the nets for extra practice against our quickest male bowlers,” recalls Danni Wyatt.
“She’d bat for about an hour. She’d say ‘yeah, come bowl’ and go ‘bang, bang.’ And I went ‘who’s that?’ She had an extra 20 minutes to do some drills after. I couldn’t believe she was 15 when someone told me. She knew exactly what she wanted to get out of that session. At age 15, that’s pretty smart.”
Strong forearms and shoulders help her to strike the ball harder than her peers. But Wyatt reveals the well-built girl is not much into gyming.
“She can hit the ball very hard already. She’s a big girl,” said Wyatt. “I saw her in the gym the other day and asked her how many press-ups she can do. She said ‘two, two!’ She did two press-ups and fell face-first on the floor. But she is strong, as you can see. She’s got a very bright future ahead of her.”
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