‘Only I know…’: Shafali Varma opens up about how she spent her nights until women’s World Cup final

Shafali Varma came in as a replacement for an injured Pratika Rawal ahead of the last four match in Mumbai, and fell for a 5-ball 10 against the Australia in the semifinal, even though India mounted a magnificent chase to enter the title round.

“Like I said before, it’s not like I was playing the semis for the first time in a World Cup. I’ve played before and I had the experience of how to handle the pressure. But I couldn’t do well in the semifinal (against Australia), and only I know how I spent the nights until the final,” Shafali told PTI.

Following her disappointing knock in the seimifinal, Shafali Varma changed the script in the final and made a 78-ball 87- followed by also taking two wickets as India defeated SA by 52 runs to land their maiden ODI World Cup. Shafali said her strategy was to keep the batting simple.

“I knew what the team wanted from me. So, in the final, I kept things simple and thought of executing my strategy. It went well and I was able to do well for the team. I just tried to play grounded shots and not play uppish because it wasn’t a good batting wicket. The bowlers were getting some assistance and the ball was also sticking on the wicket,” Shafali said.