Young Indian opener Shafali Verma, who is known for her big-hitting skills, says she is making a conscious effort to improve her strike rotation to become a better cricketer. The 18-year-old smashed an unbeaten 71 in an unbroken 174-run partnership with Smriti Mandhana (94 not out), his career-best score in ODIs, as India thrashed the hosts by 10 wickets here. to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series on Monday.
The 18-year-old has not been able to maintain consistency in her performance, especially in the 50-over format. He said, ‘After watching my last matches, I felt that I lacked to take singles, so I worked on it. I am trying to get better because I think taking singles is very important to build my innings in ODIs,” Shafali said on the eve of the third and final ODI of the series.
“If it’s a good ball, it’s about taking a single and rotating the strike. If you keep rotating the strike, it becomes easy to hit boundaries. I am also working on my fitness a lot.” In the last T20I series, Shafali failed to convert her starts and was dismissed for 31, 17 and 5 in three matches.
But in ODIs, he scored his first fifty in the format since the one against South Africa in the World Cup in March. With a modest target in sight, the duo focused on singles and two as they continued to misery on Lanka’s attack.
49 of his 71 runs came in singles and two as he parted ways with his senior teammate before chasing down the target in 25.4 overs. “She (Smriti) has been supporting me well on and off the field, telling me my mistakes and where I can improve. We enjoy talking to each other, we look forward to continuing this, and forming more partnerships like this. After Mithali Raj’s retirement, India now have Harmanpreet Kaur leading the team in all formats.
Shafali said that the new captain constantly supports the youth. “Harry Di (Harmanpreet) is very supportive of the youth. We have a lot of young people in our team. It has developed a culture where we continue our communication, talking to each other. Yes, now the team culture is good.” Shafali was also seen bowling slow off break in the series and said that it was her captain’s idea. “I always bowled in the nets and recently got a chance to bowl in domestic cricket Found it and got confidence from there. Harry Di also backed me, it was his idea and he told me to keep practicing in the nets. I am trying to work on it more,” she signed off.