"My role is to use the powerplay": Shafali Verma ahead of Pakistan clash in Women's Asia Cup 2024
Jul 19, 2024
New Delhi [India], July 19 : Ahead of the opening clash against Pakistan Women in the Women's Asia Cup 2024, India Women's batter Shafali Verma, opened up on her role in the national team while opening for the side.
The defending champions, India will kickstart their journey towards a record-extending eighth Asia Cup title when they meet arch-rivals Pakistan at Dambulla on Friday.
The right hand batter asserted that the preparations for the tournament is good. The Women in Blue are entering this tournament after winning the ODI series from the South African side.
"My role in the team is an opening batsman. I think the preparations are good because we had a great South Africa series and we are all well prepared for Asia Cup. I hope our team does well and I can contribute for my team. You get confidence when you win the Asia Cup. And we will surely try to do well in the Asia Cup and win it. I think my role is to go and use the power play. The team gets benefits a lot from the strike rate I play usually, So my role is to be settle at the middle and score for the team," said Shafali Verma on Star Sports.
Leading to the Women's Asia Cup, Team India has enjoyed a lot of on-field sucess. The team beat South Africa 3-0 in the ODI series and one-off Test recently in June-July.
India had a successful tour of Bangladesh, beating them 5-0 in T20Is from April-May.
Between December last year and January, India also hosted Australia for a one-off Test, three ODIs and T20Is each, winning the Test match, but losing the ODI series 0-3 and the T20I series 1-2.
All of these series/tournaments will be crucial for India's preparations for the ICC Women's T20 World Cup being held this year from October 3-20 in Bangladesh, where India will be aiming for its first-ever major ICC women's trophy.
India's Women's Asia Cup squad: India: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (wk), Uma Chetry (wk), Pooja Vastrakar, Arundhati Reddy, Renuka Singh Thakur, Dayalan Hemalatha, Asha Sobhana, Radha Yadav, Shreyanka Patil, Sajana Sajeevan. Travelling reserves: Shweta Sehrawat, Saika Ishaque, Tanuja Kanwer, Meghna Singh.
