Shafali’s 197 in vain as Bengal chase down 390 against Haryana

Shafali Verma smashed a 115-ball 197 for Haryana in the quarter-final of the senior women’s One-Day Trophy against Bengal in Rajkot. She hit 22 fours and 11 sixes in her innings as Haryana posted 389 for 5.

But Bengal pulled off the chase with five wickets and five balls to spare. This is by far the highest successful chase in women’s List A cricket. The previous record was 309 by Northern Districts against Canterbury in 2019.

Almost every Bengal batter contributed to the cause. Openers Dhara Gujjar (69 off 49) and Sasthi Mondal (52 off 29) provided a start of 100 in 9.1 overs. After that, Tanusree Sarkar led the way with 113 off 83 balls. Once Sarkar was dismissed, Priyanka Bala took over and saw the team home with an unbeaten 88 off 81 balls. Earlier, Sarkar had picked up 3 for 56 with the ball.

For Shafali, it was her second hundred in the ongoing competition, having opened the tournament with a 98-ball 139 against Uttar Pradesh. In seven innings, Shafali scored 527 runs at an average of 75.28 and a strike rate of 152.31.

Shafali’s rich run of form comes at a time when she has been left out of India’s white-ball squads. She was dropped from the ODI squad for the Australia tour, having scored only 108 runs in six ODIs at an average of 18 this year. Despite her strong start to the women’s one-day tournament, Shafali was left out of the squad for the ODIs against West Indies as well.

In her absence, India have struggled to find a stable opening partner for Smriti Mandhana. In Australia, where they lost 3-0, they trialled Priya Punia and Richa Ghosh. While it seemed as though the move to promote Ghosh in the second ODI was due to an injury to Punia, the wicketkeeper-batter confirmed at a press conference that she had been in line to open even before the game.

Against West Indies on Sunday, India had another new opening combination with Delhi’s Pratika Rawal partnering Mandhana. Rawal made a patient 40 in a 110-run opening stand as India secured a massive victory.

Shafali’s most recent outing for India was during the home ODIs against New Zealand in October, when she made 56 runs in three innings. She was in poor form during the T20 World Cup in UAE – 97 runs in four innings – where India made a group-stage exit.

When Harmanpreet Kaur was asked about a number of senior players missing from the squad prior to the series against West Indies, she had said it could only be answered by the “right person,” a reference to the selection committee. “Because I can only talk about the team that’s here, and what things we can do to win this series. I think regarding Shafali, or any other player, [it’s] better to ask the right persons.”

A few weeks prior, Harmanpreet had said how Shafali was crucial to India’s plans. “She [Shafali] is a very important player for us and has done exceptionally well for the country,” she had said ahead of their series opener against Australia in Brisbane. “We are looking forward to seeing her get back into her zone and perform well for the team.”