India batter Shafali Verma has revealed the boost she received from legendary Sachin Tendulkar prior to her match-winning performance in the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup final against South Africa.
Shafali was only drafted into India’s squad last week when regular opener Pratika Rawal went down with injury and the hard-hitting 21-year-old produced a performance for the ages against South Africa as she smashed a dominant innings of 87 to help her side claim their first Women’s Cricket World Cup title.
It was a moment of redemption for Shafali, who had been on the outer in India’s ODI setup since being dropped last year and only managed to score 10 runs in her first match at the World Cup in the knockout semi-final against Australia.
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Shafali spoke after India’s triumph and suggested the boost of seeing Tendulkar on the ground prior to the match had given her the confidence she could go out there and perform well.
“When I saw him (Tendulkar), it gave me an incredible boost. I kept talking to him and he kept giving me confidence,” Shafali was quoted as saying by ICC.
“He is the master of cricket, and we keep getting inspired just looking at him,” she added.
Shafali Verma Shines With The Ball As Well
It wasn’t just with the bat that Shafali made a strong contribution in the final, with the youngster also claiming two key wickets with the ball after India skipper Harmnpreet Kaur decided to entrust her with some important overs during the Proteas’ run chase.
“It was a gut feeling,” Harmanpreet said when asked about her decision to use Shafali as a bowler.
“I thought it could be risky too, but at the same time, I was positive because she had shown confidence when we spoke to her and I didn’t want to go back to the room later thinking, ‘why didn’t I try’ because they were looking good.
And when I gave her that over and she got back-to-back breakthroughs, that was the turning point for us,” she added.
Though Shafali had spent some time out of the India team in recent times, the dashing opener admitted she never lost faith in her ability to perform on the big stage.
“(I am) very happy that we won and I cannot express it in words. It was difficult but I had confidence in myself, that if I can stay calm, I could achieve everything,” she said.
“I just wanted to make my team win. My mind was clear, and I worked on my plans. So, (I am) happy that I could execute them and everyone was supporting me. They (senior players) asked me just to play my own game, and when you get that clarity, that is all you need so it is a very memorable moment,” she added.