Women's World Cup: Will Shafali Verma play in India vs Australia semifinal? India’s likely playing XI HERE

Will India take a gamble by drafting explosive opener Shafali Verma into the playing XI for the all-important semifinal against Australia at the Women’s ODI World Cup, after keeping her out from even the reserve set of players?

 

It’s the question on everybody’s lips. Having been flown in to join the squad after in-form regular opener Pratika Rawal was ruled out of the tournament because of knee and ankle injuries, Verma would be hoping to make an instant impact if she plays on Thursday.

 

Verma’s record in WODIs isn’t encouraging – average of 23 in 29 games and only four half-centuries. Also, the 21-year-old’s record as an opener with vice-captain Smriti Mandhana – 893 runs in 25 innings at 37.20 – is a far cry from the Rawal-Mandhana opening pair – 1,799 runs in 23 innings at 78.21.

 

But, Verma, whose aggressive style could put Australia under pressure, brings in the much-needed X-factor into the team. Also, she has been in a rich vein of form, especially for India A in their recent tour to Australia, and hit a 24-ball 55 in her last outing for Haryana. Verma was leading Haryana in National Women's T20 when she was summoned from Surat to Mumbai.

 

The youngster, however, is raring to go. “What happened with Pratika, as a sportsperson, it wasn't a good thing. No one wants any sportsperson to sustain such an injury. But God has sent me here to do something good,” Verma told mediapersons ahead of the semifinal clash.

 

India’s other option is to promote Harleen Deol to the opening slot and accommodate a sixth bowler. Deol may not have set the batting charts on fire yet in the tournament – 169 runs without a fifty in seven matches – but she will bring in stability at the top and allow Mandhana to play her natural game.

 

Former West Indian great Ian Bishop is in favour of India going in with six bowlers. The home team’s template has been five batters, a wicketkeeper, and five bowlers – three of them all-rounders – for much of this World Cup. But, after the losses against South Africa, Australia and England in the league stage, India were forced to bring in specialist pacer Renuka Thakur in place of fast-bowling all-rounder Amanjot Kaur in their must-win game against New Zealand.

 

"With the batting depth of Australia, I would want to have that extra bowling combination. I don't like part-timers in such a big game. Back the batting at the top, they are specialists to get you runs, but always have that fallback, especially at the DY Patil, which looks to a good batting surface," Bishop said on JioStar media ahead of the semifinal.

 

Of course, with rains forecast, the conditions would play an important role in the final playing XIs of both the teams.

 

India’s playing XI (PROBABLE):

 

Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Richa Ghosh (wk), Harleen Deol, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Amanjot Kaur, Deepti Sharma, Renuka Singh Thakur, Shree Charani, Radha Yadav.

Sports