Shafali Verma will be making his third tour of England. But this time around, a lot has changed. To begin with, she is no longer a teenager.
Shafali was a T20I cricket player when she made her first trip to England for the multi-format series in 2021. During that tour, she made her debut in both Test and ODI cricket. Despite her inconsistency, India was pleased with the high-impact blows she made during the 2022 England tour. Which was for the Commonwealth Games and the bilateral series. For both Shafali and India, the trade-off between risk and reward was excellent.
In the middle of 2025, Shafali remains unpopular in ODIs during a home World Cup year and has recently been called up to the T20I squad. Following India’s humiliating loss in the T20 World Cup 2024 league stage. Shafali’s position on the team appeared untenable. It’s not like India found other batters who could attack right away as she could; very few people in the world, much less India, can do it. Nevertheless, she was dropped.
In the past, Shafali Verma may have benefited by her rejection in terms of time. Since she was allowed to participate in all 50-over domestic competitions. In addition to leading the run-scoring statistics with 527 runs at an average of 75 and a strike rate of 152.31, she led Haryana to a quarterfinal finish in the Senior Women’s One Day Trophy. Kiran Navgire was the only other batter to bat at a greater strike rate during the competition, but she only managed to score 116 runs.
Shafali Verma
Shafali went on to compete in the Senior Women’s One Day Challenger Trophy, where the national selectors choose the top one-dayers. As captain of Team A, she also led the charts there with 414 runs at an average of 82.80 and a strike rate of 145.26. No one else in the competition scored at a faster pace than her. She had about 200 runs more than the next best.
As the top run scorer for the runners-up Delhi Capitals (DC) in the 2025 WPL and fourth-best player overall. Shafali was unable to be excluded from India’s T20I squad. The fact that India only participated in one T20I series because of her dismissal was irrelevant. When the 2026 T20 World Cup journey begins, they have their best opener back.
“In one-day cricket, everyone claimed that she only bats for ten to fifteen overs. However, she hit consecutive hundreds and batted for longer in [the domestic] one-dayers. Shafali performed well even in the Senior Women’s Multi-Day Challenger Trophy. She has recently begun playing longer innings on a regular basis. She has scored 130-140 in Under-23 cricket. So it’s not like she hasn’t done it before. Although she strives to maximize the powerplay in T20s, she possesses the talent.
India Women tour of England 2025
When 15-year-old Shafali made her debut for India, Kala, a former player, was the chief selector. In addition to working with DC, Kala also coached teams in the one-day and multi-day Challenger Trophy, where he saw firsthand the harm Shafali could cause as an opponent.
Kala stated, “I keep telling her that no one has the mindset she has—hitting sixes from ball one.” ‘Don’t leave your game,’ I remind her every time we speak. No one in the women’s game hits sixes at will like her; her power game comes naturally. I advised her to hold onto the traits that have led her to this point. I initially chose her because she is a different cricket player.
However, Kala also consciously taught Shafali the value of switching up your strike. Avoiding getting caught up in the pursuit of massive hits. Finding holes when the field stretches is something she has worked on.
