They say about batting: the simpler you keep things, the easier it gets. And that's the mantra Indian women's team opener Shafali Verma loves to follow, without complicating stuff and letting her positive, attacking instincts take control.
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"If there is a bad ball, it must be hit and there is no two ways about it," IANS quoted her as saying. "So, when I get a bad ball, I hit it and same works for her. And when we get a good ball, we try and steal a single out of it. Nothing beats staying true to your game. Trying to curb your natural instincts don’t work I feel."
The prodigiously talented batter was outstanding during the recent T20 World Cup in Australia where she dominated attacks at the top of the order and got India off to brilliant starts, scoring 163 runs in five innings at a strike-rate of 158.25.
“My job is to go out there and score runs and put India in an advantageous position. It obviously feels good when people appreciate your performance, but the trophy in the hand would have felt so much better." The last bit there tells a lot about Shafali, for whom team achievement comes well above personal glory. She is still at pain over India's disappointing loss in the final to hosts Australia.
"Just didn’t go our way that day. But sports is all about winning and losing. There will be other opportunities that will go our way," she said. "What happened we cannot change, but what will happen is in our hands and we will not leave any stone unturned as we look to be the best in the business."
These aren't the happiest of times for the world, with the deadly COVID-19 outbreak threatening human life, forcing countries to opt for lockdown and bringing everything to a standstill.
Shafali, however, is using this phase to work on her fitness in order to be ready for whenever the normalcy returns.
"I have been working hard on my fitness and it helps that HCA (Haryana Cricket Association) has given us customised fitness charts keeping in mind the areas we need to work on," she said.
"With us staying indoors at this point in time, the chart further helps as it has workouts planned in a way that we can easily do them at home and don’t need to go to a gym."
"At these times, a lot of negative thoughts can seep into the mind. But speaking to the sports psychologist helped a lot. The motivation has helped stay positive in these tough times," Shafali added.
"To be honest, the support of Ashwani sir (coach), HCA and Baseline Ventures has really helped. Signing up with them has helped relieve a lot of pressure off my father who has been an integral part of my journey."
Shafali then talked about how a "relaxed" team atmosphere really helped the Harmanpreet-Kaur led side achieve unprecedented success down under.
"You know, there is nothing like seniors will speak and junior have to listen or things like those," she said. "It is a very relaxed atmosphere and in fact not just seniors like Harmanpreet Kaur or Smriti Mandhana, everyone is looking to push the other the extra mile. And we have a really amazing coach in W.V. Raman sir."
"The best part about Raman sir is that he always has solutions ready and helps out whenever we are stuck. If there is an issue I am facing, I can always go up to him and get clarity on how to work my way out. He just has a brilliant mind and can easily instil confidence," Shafali added.
(Inputs from IANS)
