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After a series of low scores, Shafali Verma was dropped from India squad ahead of the Australia tour last year and she kept the news hidden from her father for a few days.

Shafali Verma has been working on her game and fitness. (BCCI Photo)
India batter Shafali Verma has revealed that couple of days before she was dropped from the women’s ODI squad, her father was admitted to a hospital after suffering heart attack. She kept the news hidden from her father till he got better.
“It’s not easy to get over it. I didn’t want to reveal because my father had a heart attack about two days before I got dropped from the team. I hid the news from him till he got better. He was in the hospital. I told him a week later,” Shafali told The Indian Express.
The 20-year-old, known for her big-hitting abilities, wasn’t picked for a three-match ODI series in Australia after managing just 108 runs from six matches in 2024.
Her father, Sanjeev, who was also her first coach sprang into action immediately after being informed of the development. Together they began practicing for the senior women’s One-Day Trophy.
She has since been scoring plenty of runs in domestic cricket including a gigantic innings of 197 off 115 for Haryana in the quarter-final of the senior women’s One-Day Trophy against Bengal.
“Father knows everything, sometimes as kids even we forget our strengths but they don’t forget. He reminded me of the workouts and drills from my childhood, and helped me to do the same. When I started, we had these knocking drills – where I play on-drive, straight drive and that’s what I worked on. These are my strengths and sometimes you need to work on them to remember how good you are at them,” Shafali said.
With the ODI World Cup set to be held in August-September this year, Shafali has her eyes set on making India comeback.
She has been spending the time away from international cricket working on her game and fitness.
“Sometimes when you’re continuously playing games, you don’t get time to work on your fitness. So now the effort is to keep working on my fitness and develop my batting as much as possible. I want to grab all the chances I can and make runs when I get the opportunity, wherever that is – Team India or domestic,” Shafali said.