"Fearless Cricket With Smartness": Shafali Verma Reveals India's Bold New Plan Ahead Of Women's Champions Trophy

The Indian women's cricket team aims to play a fearless brand of cricket while remaining smart in its approach heading into the Women's Champions Trophy at home early next year, vice-captain Shafali Verma said on Thursday. India will take on Zimbabwe for the first time in a bilateral series, with the T20I leg forming part of their preparations for the ICC event in February. India and Zimbabwe will face off in a three-match T20I series before moving to Vadodara for three ODIs. “We have spoken about it, that in this series we have to play a fearless brand of cricket with smartness leading up to the Champions Trophy. We have had a lot of meetings, so everyone knows what to do. We are just trying to keep improving series by series,” Shafali told reporters on the eve of the series opener.

The Indian women's team has witnessed a change in leadership after Harmanpreet Kaur stepped down. While Smriti Mandhana was appointed captain across formats, Shafali was named her deputy in T20Is and Deepti Sharma in ODIs.

“Harman provided a lot of growth to women's cricket and the way it has evolved is because of her,” Shafali said about the former skipper.

Having spent time away from the national team before being recalled during the ODI World Cup, Shafali said hard work on various aspects of her game had paid off.

“I analysed myself when I was out of the team. I needed to work on consistency, fitness and mental growth. I worked hard on these things and now everything is coming together,” Shafali said.

“In 2025, I worked on every skill, from playing short balls and back-foot punches against spinners to pull shots as well. I can see a good reflection of that now.

“I have been bowling for Haryana since 2021, so it is not new to me. I used to think that if I had to bowl for India one day, how I should prepare myself for it, and mentally I have always been ready,” she added.

Shafali said the team did not feel Jemimah Rodrigues' absence too much during their last two assignments, the Asia Cup and the Asian Games, and that new players would continue to be tried in that role.

“Jemi is recovering, but during the Asia Cup and the Asian Games, we did not feel her absence much. The way Richa (Ghosh) and Harman played, and now Niki (Prasad) has come in, hopefully she will do well and we will keep trying players,” Shafali said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Featured Video Of The Day

Spain Vs Argentina | Dani Olmo On WC Triumph: 'Wanted To Set An Example For The Next Generation'