Shafali Verma | Picture Credit score: Vijay Soneji
Delhi Capitals’ skipper Meg Lanning on Tuesday (February 11, 2025) hoped explosive India opener Shafali Verma will carry her current wealthy vein of kind in home cricket into the third season of the Ladies’s Premier League beginning on Friday (February 14, 2025).
Shafali, who was dropped from the Indian staff for the away tour to Australia in November 2024, made glorious outings for Haryana in home matches not too long ago to sign her return to run-making methods.
“She appears like she’s in actually good contact and having fun with herself and having enjoyable too, which I believe is admittedly necessary. For me, simply watching her play with freedom, categorical herself, (and) when she does that, that performs a very necessary position for our staff,” Lanning mentioned throughout the pre-tournament press meet of the Capitals.
Shafali was the highest run-getter within the Senior Ladies’s One Day Trophy, scoring 527 runs at a mean of 75.29 whereas within the Senior Ladies’s One Day Challenger Trophy the right-hander made 414 runs at a mean of 82.80.
On each the events, she made runs at a strike-rate near 150.
“She did a really related factor a number of days in the past in our observe sport. She usually places on a really entertaining present and I’ve obtained one of the best seat in the home. I all the time get pleasure from batting along with her. We get on very well and hopefully this season can proceed on from the place we have now been the primary two,” Lanning added.
Like her opening associate, Lanning additionally coming to the WPL 2025 with none substantial match-time expertise having retired from worldwide cricket final 12 months.
So, how has she managed to keep up a correspondence with the sport? “I have been enjoying some video games for Victoria within the WNCL (Ladies’s Nationwide Cricket League). I believe enjoying matches is necessary.
There’s nothing fairly like being out within the center and being in a superb rhythm with that.
“So, I really feel like these video games are nice for me in that respect. I really feel like I am in a great place with my sport.” Lanning mentioned her previous experiences of enjoying in India will assist her within the WPL.
“I all the time get pleasure from enjoying and batting over right here in India. I’ve had some success prior to now. And yeah, thus far with the couple of days I have been right here, it has been good to simply get used to the situations and simply be actually clear on what my plan is and the way I wish to go about it.” In actual fact, all of the groups and gamers should do fast acclimatisation as a result of the WPL shall be performed throughout 4 venues — Vadodara, Bengaluru, Lucknow and Mumbai — for the primary time.
Lanning relishes the problem. “We have been actually fortunate with the observe facility we had in Pune (throughout DC coaching camp). We practiced on black soil wickets and purple soil wickets.So, we’re attempting to cowl all these bases with out actually realizing essentially what we’ll discover.
“The stadium right here within the Kotambi (Vadodara), it is a implausible wicket. Clearly, the Indian girls performed a sequence right here not too long ago that was actually excessive scoring. So, I count on the wickets to be implausible from that angle.” The previous Australian captain mentioned gamers should stay versatile with their strategy contemplating they are going to be enjoying in new venues.
“As all the time with cricket, it is solely when the gamers step out onto them, they actually know what they will do.
“You have to keep versatile, keep fluid together with your considering and react to what’s in entrance of you. But it surely’s actually thrilling to have these new venues on the calendar,” she added.
On the flip facet, the Capitals will miss enjoying in entrance of residence crowd this season, however Lanning isn’t overly perturbed.
“There is not any doubt we love enjoying in entrance of our residence followers in Delhi. It is unlucky that we do not get to try this this 12 months. However I believe anyplace that we have gone thus far with WPL, there’s been glorious crowds and an awesome ambiance.
“We simply attempt to embrace that and luxuriate in that and actually simply form of take that in our stride. It (not enjoying at residence venue) hasn’t been one thing that we have talked about an excessive amount of in any respect) or that may fear us. I believe we’re blissful to play wherever we have to,” she mentioned.
Printed – February 11, 2025 03:31 pm IST
