Shafali Verma’s ODI Comeback: She Definitely Can, But Will She Be Consistent Enough?

It was the first warm-up game of the Indian women’s team in their tour of England against the England women’s Development XI. The English side had notched up a huge total of 353/5. 

When coming out to chase the mammoth score, the Indian team management astonished everyone by deciding to partner Shafali Verma with Smriti Mandhana as an opening pair, instead of the regular ODI opener Pratika Rawal, even though Shafali wasn't in the ODI scheme of things recently.  

While this can be a decision the management was forced to take due to some injury issues to Pratika, just the presence of Shafali as an opener gave people following the game a hope that India could chase this total down. Disappointingly, as has been the case in most of Shafali’s ODI career, she fell cheaply for just 16 of 13 deliveries. 

However, one thing was clear: in Pratika’s absence, the team management trusted Shafali to do the job as an opener. They knew her firepower, and since it was a tour match with nothing on the line except some good practice, Shafali was given the go-ahead. 

The Indian team trusting Shafali to do the job is not a coincidence. The swashbuckling 21-year-old made her ODI debut on the England tour in 2021 when she was yet to be eligible for voting in Indian elections. The numbers weren’t behind her even back then. But the fact was that the selectors understand that there is probably no one in Indian women’s cricket who can do what Shafali does. 

After being dropped from the ODI side post the hastily organised home ODI series against New Zealand within a few days of the T20 World Cup in UAE ending, Shafali went back and ground hard in the domestic circuit. 

The swashbuckling Haryana batter played two List-A tournaments after that: the Senior Women’s One Day Trophy and the Challengers Trophy in December 2024 and January 2025, respectively. There, she was well and above any other batter who played these tournaments, scoring 759 runs combined at an average of 75.9, while smashing the leather of the ball at a strike rate of 149.4! 

She struck as many as 34 sixes in just 10 games.

Come the 2025 edition of the Women’s Premier League (WPL), her numbers continue to soar, and this time, against some of the best bowlers in world cricket. 

Shafali was not only the leading run scorer amongst the Indian batters, but her strike rate of 152.8 was the second-best amongst the five batters who crossed 300 runs in the season, bettered only by skipper Harmanpreet Kaur. The fact that the other three names in those five included Nat Sciver-Brunt, Ellyse Perry and Hayley Matthews reflects just how world-class Shafali was in the WPL this year. 

More importantly, she batted with a lot of responsibility this year and had a big role to play in Delhi Capitals making the final for the third successive year. 

Hence, it’s not an exaggeration to say that this new version of Shafali is an improvement over the batter we had seen since her international debut as a 15-year-old in September 2019, when she became the youngest-ever debutant in women’s T20I. 

Probably that's why it feels like she's already a veteran, just at 21. But she will have to do many things right to make her comeback in the ODI team, just months away from a home World Cup. 

The path isn't as straightforward either, considering Pratika hasn't put a foot wrong. She has 638 runs in 11 ODIs at an average of 63.80. While a question can be raised about the quality of the opposition she faced, as she is yet to play a game against England or Australia, it’s undeniable that she has a lot of quality in her batting and consistency, something Shafali has lacked big time.

But the major issue so far with Pratika is that in case Mandhana gets out early, she hasn’t shown the required acceleration in her batting to take on the bowling. With Harleen Deol batting at number three, another batter who takes time to get going, a lot of pressure falls on Mandhana to keep giving quick and big starts to the Indian team, or make the situation too tall for the likes of Harmanpreet.

That’s where Shafali can score big runs in the T20Is and show that she isn’t just a firecracker that entertains for a few seconds, but rather an artillery gun that can keep firing long enough to inflict serious damage.

And that’s what she needs to keep doing to allow herself a real chance to get in the ODI squad and eventually the World Cup. 

“She (Shafali) had an amazing year once the setback had come. She went to domestic cricket and scored bucketloads of runs, had an amazing WPL, and no one had any doubts about her talent. The way she has come into the Indian team and dominated, she is a world-class player and always will be. She deserves this comeback and I’m really excited to open with her again,” that’s what Mandhana said in the press conference today before the start of the T20I series tomorrow. 

Now, if Shafali makes her comeback in the Indian ODI team by performing well in the T20I series, it will be up to the selectors to integrate her into the Indian team. 

Because no one in Indian women’s cricket can do what Shafali Verma can.