Shafali Verma reveals the work behind her growing impact on the ball

Here is the full transcript of Shafali Verma’s press conference ahead of India vs Bangladesh Women’s World Cup T20 2026 clash.

(Reporter:)

How much do you enjoy bowling? And there was a very funny drill yesterday — the drill itself wasn’t much fun, but the punishment was quite fun; tell us a little about it.

(Shafali Verma:)

Well, of course. I enjoy bowling a lot, but it’s not easy in the World Cup. I have to keep changing, keep changing pace. And talking about yesterday, we have a team start and with that we have a bit of cricket skills, so yeah, we really enjoyed it, but you all know the penalty – which was not very well taken. so yes, we had very good preparations yesterday. We have practice today, so we’re all going to that.

(Reporter:)

Shafali, there are two important games left. Looking back at the last match, where do you think India could have gone wrong? Maybe we missed a few runs? And after the defeat, do you know how the team recovered and prepared for the last two big games?

(Shafali Verma:)

Well, of course we all know. South Africa played very well and I think we didn’t play well in the situation we were in. No, I won’t say that – the total was not bad at all and I think the bowling was good. Our captain batted very well, so credit to her. And we’re just talking about the next two games — we all know how important it is for us to win both games, so we’ll take it game by game, tomorrow with Bangladesh and then we’ll see the next game. But we all know that both games are very important — we will give our best.

(Reporter:)

You know, 3 teams still have a chance to make it to the semi-finals and the way Bangladesh beat Pakistan in the previous match, do you think tomorrow’s match will be a tougher challenge for you?

(Shafali Verma:)

Of course, we cannot take any team lightly; they also came here to show very good cricket. But like I said before, we’ll go game by game. We all know we have to win two matches but we will go match by match and try to show our best cricket tomorrow. And win the game tomorrow

(Reporter:)

One change was unfortunate when Sriyanka got injured; she threw only one ball in this match. But with the changes happening every game — some in the batting order and with a fast bowler coming in and players going — is there a settled sense of how we’re going to get there? Because there were three matches played in the World Cup and it takes some time to settle down to the ideal level.

(Shafali Verma:)

So I will say: you are playing the World Cup – everyone can get a chance. It’s like this: if you don’t perform well, of course you’ll sit and we all know that whoever steps up will play. And I think we all support each other, whether someone is sitting or someone is playing. We all think we have to win the game. But we all support each other. That’s all I can say.

(Reporter:)

You got a very good delivery from Shabnim Ismail – it was absolutely tighter – but as a batsman, when you play well and get a ball like that, how do you usually come back? Because the next two matches are quite important. One of the teams in particular is Australia, do you think I might face more short balls and have to train for that? So I wanted to get to know that way of thinking a little.

(Shafali Verma:)

When Shabnim Ismail bowled at me – as you all know, she came up short. The bouncers don’t get to me much either, but I take it ball by ball, game by game, and I think when they bowl – I was just thinking about taking singles, I know I was in pretty good contact and like you said when you get like that, how do you prepare for the next game. I’m just concentrating on my preparation, how I can prepare shots into the nets. And if I get in that situation again, I’ll ask myself how I’m going to handle it, how I’m going to play it, so it’s just preparation for me and

right now, like I said, the first thing on everyone’s mind is the Bangladesh game and then we go to London, then we see the Australian team, but first we are all preparing for the game tomorrow and we are all going to do our best.

(Reporter:)

We know that the team has so many experienced fighters. Mr. Amol, Mr. Avishkar. What conversation took place after the South Africa match? We saw yesterday that you will also have a pretty big hurdle. How does the whole group come together and motivate each other? What are the key points the team is discussing.

(Shafali Verma:)

Whenever we have a bad day as a team, we know that the morale of all the players will be down. But the next day we all know we have to come together, unite and motivate each other. So yesterday in the chat we just said this: from here everyone knows that both games are key. But we will support each other, we will give our best in these two days of preparation, we will go day by day. As today is our practice, so today we will think only of practice; then we’ll see tomorrow about the game, so it’s just a day-to-day process, we’re thinking a lot about staying in the present. And they are all very mature. They all played a lot of cricket and played in front of so many people. So I think they won’t let this situation happen again

in this World Cup so all I will say is that we will give our best in this World Cup.

(Reporter:)

When you go to the World Cup, everyone wants to beat teams like Australia or South Africa and this is one situation; of course you weren’t on the team at the time. But six months ago, when the FIFA Over-50 World Cup took place, one thing that emerged was that all the matches became must-win situations. Does it change the mindset of the team from there compared to when you started the tournament?

(Shafali Verma:)

Of course, this is a very good question. In huddle yesterday, Harman di told us the same thing, it’s not like we’ve never been in this situation before. We got into the same situation last year and got out of it. So I think that a difficult situation is one that has not happened in your life before. But we accepted this situation in ODI and we have won. So we know now we have to win these two games, so what kind of preparation are we going to need, how are we going to have to talk to each other as players — so I’ll just say that we’ve been in that situation and we’ve won the situation, so this time we’ll go and see what we did at that time, the things that we did well, so every player will see it and we’re ready for it.

(Reporter:)

You keep getting better and better as a pitcher and now you play in any phase of the power play as well. So are you focusing a little more on bowling these days? Do you see yourself as a true all-rounder?

(Shafali Verma:)

It’s not like I have played in my domestic cricket in Haryana before, whenever I was the captain, I used to take time to think about what I would do if I ever got a chance to play for the Indian team, how I should do it. So in the situations I’m playing in now, I’ve visualized in advance what I have to think when I play in that situation. It’s not like I’m just bowling; I prepared for it and worked hard for it – that’s why it’s so good at the World Cup. And I think as a player, whatever the situation is, whatever the team needs, I always want to raise my hand to get the team out of that situation and help the team win that game; I’d say I’m versatile now.

(Reporter:)

And finally, who are the people who have helped you become a better bowler –

(Shafali Verma:)

I think the people who helped me – only my father. He taught me to bat from the beginning because my brother was a leg spinner so sometimes he used to say that I should get a chance to bowl as well. So today my dad sometimes says – sometimes he says thank god you looked then so now it helps you bite. Of course my father made me a goal keeper first, if you all don’t know I was the goal keeper in the household. But now I’m a bowler and a batsman, so I don’t mind – I don’t mind being the one who always wins the game for the team.

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