New Delhi, June 4 (IANS) India captain Harmanpreet Kaur has revealed that the decision to bring in Shafali Verma as a late replacement for the injured Pratika Rawal during the 2025 Women’ ODI World Cup was taken in ‘just a 30‑second meeting’, with unanimous backing from the team and the board.

Pratika had suffered an ankle injury in the rain‑hit game against Bangladesh in Navi Mumbai, thus ruling her out of the knockout stages. Shafali then came in and smashed 87 while picking two wickets in the final against South Africa to ensure India lifted its first-ever ODI WC trophy, that too on home soil.

“We first asked about Pratika. But sir told us multiple times that there was no chance of her coming back. After that, it was just a 30-second meeting. We all came together, and everybody said, ‘Shafali, Shafali, Shafali,’ and that was it.

“Everybody was clear about who should come in, even though she was not among the standbys. Everyone from the BCCI was very confident that Shafali would come in and smash it. Their confidence made us even more positive,” said Harmanpreet on JioStar’s ‘Unstoppable’ series.

Head coach Amol Muzumdar reflected on how he felt over Pratika catching the heart-breaking injury. “My heart sank when she got injured. As a coach, you can’t do much about it. All you can do is keep your emotions in check. But there was a storm going on in my mind. When I watched her limp off, I thought that was the last thing we wanted.”

Vice-captain Smriti Mandhana further highlighted the importance of Shafali’s experience of having played ODIs before. “Having international experience was very important, and it had to be an opener as well. In big matches, sometimes you need that X‑factor. Everyone felt there was no better person than Shafali for that job.

“I told her one thing after her first practice session, that she was in the team because of her performances. She had done extremely well in domestic cricket, dominating every bowling attack possible. I told her to treat the remaining games like domestic matches, go out there and enjoy herself. And what better stage to enjoy than the semi‑final and the final?”

Shafali herself admitted to the pain of missing out initially on the main squad after an indifferent run in ODIs. “Missing out on the World Cup squad for a tournament in India was one of the saddest feelings for me. But as they say, God has plans for everyone. The initial days were very difficult because everywhere I went, people kept asking why I wasn’t in the team.

“Eventually, I accepted it and focused on what I could control. I found a quiet space with just my brother and father around me and told myself this was the time to work harder than ever on my game. I even told my brother to be strict with me and call me out whenever he felt I was easing off or not giving my best during practice.”

On her emotions after the late call‑up, while she was with the Haryana team for the Senior Women’s T20 Trophy knockouts in Surat, Shafali said, “I was at the hotel, playing with a friend, when I saw a call from my manager. I wasn’t following the team’s matches a lot, so I wasn’t aware of what had happened.

“So, he told me that Pratika had been injured and that I needed to come in. I felt bad for her because no one wants a sportsperson to get injured, but at the same time I started thinking about how quickly I needed to get mentally prepared for a World Cup semi‑final. After being out of the team for nearly a year, it wasn’t an easy switch to make all of a sudden.”

–IANS

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