Opener Shafali seeks balance between maturity and mayhem

For years, Shafali Verma’s batting was built on instinct. ‘See ball, hit ball’ was her motto.

- Samreen Razzaqui

It is what made her one of the most exciting young batters in world cricket, but when form deserts, players look for the pause button and often, things start to fall in place.

On Wednesday against the Netherlands, Shafali’s 55 off 38 balls was a reminder of a batter trying to find balance again. The numbers tell the story of a player searching for rhythm. Before the Netherlands game, Shafali had gone seven innings without a fifty. Her last half-century came against the ECB Development XI in May.

Earlier, in the Women's Premier League, she had a relatively quiet season. She scored 259 runs in 10 matches at an average of 25.9, managing just one fifty after posting 300-plus seasons in both 2024 and 2025.

The innings in Leeds was therefore less about the runs and more about how they came. “It was a nice innings because the balls that were not in my range, I was taking singles,” Shafali told broadcasters. “It was a mature innings.”