On a pleasant evening where every squad member turned up for practice, all eyes were firmly on one player. It wasn’t difficult to distinguish Shafali Verma from others. She was the only one who was spotted training with light blue trousers on while her teammates trained with the usual black trousers.
The 21-year-old began the session on Tuesday by taking high catches, low catches and catches while stationed in the deep as bowling coach Aavishkar Salvi gave catching practice to her and other members.
After the drill, Verma was seen in a group discussion with head coach Amol Muzumdar and some of the other batting linchpins that included captain Harmanpreet Kaur, vice-captain Smriti Mandhana, Harleen Deol and Amanjot Kaur.
Shafali Verma trains at the D.Y.Patil Stadium ahead of the World Cup semi-final match vs Australia. (Express Photo by Amit Chakravarty)
After spending 15-20 minutes chatting with the head coach, it was finally time to get down to the real business. Even as Jemimah Rodrigues took part in a solo batting session inside the venue, Verma, along with the rest of her teammates headed to the smaller ground situated behind the stadium.
The right-hander began her batting stint at 7 p.m. and over the course of the next 50 minutes, faced up to throwdowns from the support staff, net bowlers and also the likes of Sneh Rana and Amanjot Kaur.
Apart from a penchant to take on the new ball, the one other aspect that has separated Verma from others in the squad is the double tap of the bat she does on the crease before lining up to face the bowlers. That was visible, too, on Tuesday as she batted intently, taking mini breaks in between.
The other striking feature was her not lofting the ball as much in the air as we have been used to seeing. Barring the odd shot, Verma seemed to consciously try to play the ball along the ground, even focusing on her defence against all kinds of bowlers.
Whether she was trying to play well within herself or working on other aspects to her game can’t be said just yet. There were also a few reverse sweep attempts which didn’t quite connect, but those moments were sparse in an otherwise satisfying stint.
Former India coach WV Raman, who worked with Shafali during his stint with the side, felt that circumstances had forced Shafali’s inclusion in India’s squad.
“It is forced upon the selection committee and the team management. It is just a case of circumstances dictating that they brought in somebody at the top of the order. And quite obviously, they’ve gone for somebody who can wrest the initiative and also with a fair bit of experience because it’s a World Cup and also it’s a knockout stage,” Raman told The Indian Express on Tuesday.
The right-hander has also linked up with the squad after a fruitful run for Haryana in the senior women’s T20 trophy, where she made 341 runs in nine matches. Raman felt that runs under her belt would give her confidence going into the semifinal.
“See, the point is all about cricketers being in a good frame of mind, cricketers having confidence, and that happens only when they are amongst the runs or if they are amongst the wickets. So, on that front, I think Shafali will be feeling confident. She’ll be obviously raring to go. And quite obviously, she’ll be hoping to get to play in the XI. Let’s see how things pan out,” he said.
The same conservatism at nets, however, can’t be said about Mandhana. The southpaw consistently tried to go aerial on the leg side against the spinners, connecting a few hits which went sailing towards the cow corner boundary.
Verma has a bowl too
After having a hit in the smaller stadium, Verma returned to the main ground where she faced Renuka Singh Thakur, Kranti Gaud and Radha Yadav. This is where one got to see her real avatar as she used the long handle to good effect, going aerial more than once.
One other distinct feature of the training session was Verma bowling a fair bit of off spin at the likes of Mandhana in the main ground. Whether that was merely to roll her arm over or had any further meaning to it, will be something to watch out for in the second training session on Wednesday.
Richa practices wicketkeeping drills
Apart from Shafali’s stint, one other development also headlined the nets on Tuesday. Wicketkeeper-batter Richa Ghosh was seen going through her keeping drills, under the watchful eyes of the support staff from just outside the net, even as a wide range of net bowlers had a bowl at her.
She was stationed like she would for a spinner and was also later seen walking into the smaller ground for a batting stint.
Ghosh missed India’s final league phase fixture against Bangladesh after failing to recover in time from a finger injury.
Uma Chetry made her ODI debut in a match that was abandoned due to persistent rain. Despite no showers on Tuesday evening, the pitches on the main square remained under covers, with tyres used to prevent them from getting blown away.
Shafali Verma trains at the D.Y.Patil Stadium ahead of the World Cup semi-final match vs Australia. (Express Photo by Amit Chakravarty) 
Shafali Verma trains at the D.Y.Patil Stadium ahead of the World Cup semi-final match vs Australia. (Express Photo by Amit Chakravarty)
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