When Shafali Verma walked out to open the innings at DY Patil Stadium on Sunday, few could have predicted that the next 78 balls would rewrite cricket history. Her blistering 87-run knock powered India to a commanding 298/7 against South Africa, but more significantly, it made her the youngest cricketer ever, across both men’s and women’s formats, to score a half-century in a World Cup final.
At 21 years and 278 days, Shafali surpassed Virender Sehwag’s 2003 record, delivering an innings that symbolised not just personal triumph but the arrival of a new era in Indian women’s cricket. Her seven boundaries and two towering sixes left the Mumbai crowd roaring, as she and Smriti Mandhana stitched together a crucial 104-run opening partnership that set the foundation for India’s second-highest total in Women’s World Cup final history.
But this moment of glory came on the back of months of struggle and self-doubt. Just weeks before the tournament, Shafali wasn’t even in India’s World Cup squad. After inconsistent performances in the New Zealand series earlier in 2024, she was dropped and sent back to domestic cricket with India A. Her ODI numbers told a sobering story: 644 runs in 29 matches at an average of just 23. When the selectors announced the World Cup squad in September, Pratika Rawal was chosen ahead of her as the first-choice opener.
Then fate intervened. When Rawal suffered a tournament-ending ankle injury during India’s league match against Bangladesh, Shafali received an emergency call-up. She wasn’t even an official reserve. Rushed from Haryana’s domestic fixtures to Mumbai with barely any preparation, she carried the weight of uncertainty. Her semi-final appearance against Australia yielded just 10 runs off five balls, another disappointing outing that seemed to confirm her struggles.
Yet something shifted before the final. “God has sent me here to do something good,” she had said prophetically ahead of the semi-final. On Sunday, those words materialised into reality. Opening with confidence and freedom, Shafali played with the fearless aggression that first announced her to the world as a 15-year-old debutant in 2019, when she became India’s youngest female international cricketer.
Her batting wasn’t the only highlight. Introduced with the ball late in the South African innings, Shafali struck twice in seven deliveries, removing Sune Luus with a sharp caught-and-bowled before having Marizanne Kapp edge one to wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh. It was the kind of all-round performance that elevated match-winners into legends.
Shafali’s cricket journey began in Rohtak, Haryana, where her father, Sanjeev, himself prevented from playing cricket due to family pressure, became her earliest coach and biggest supporter. Starting at age eight, she absorbed his simple philosophy: “If the ball is there to be hit, then it should be hit hard.” That approach, combined with inspiration drawn from watching Sachin Tendulkar’s final domestic match in 2013, shaped her attacking style.
By 2019, she was breaking Tendulkar’s records. By 2023, she captained India to victory in the ICC Under-19 Women’s T20 World Cup. But ODI cricket exposed vulnerabilities that T20 brilliance could mask. Dropped, doubted, and nearly forgotten, Shafali’s World Cup final performance wasn’t just about runs and wickets; it was about resilience, second chances, and the unpredictable beauty of sport.
As she now leads the list ahead of Jessica Duffin, Nat Sciver-Brunt, and her idol Sehwag, Shafali Verma has done more than etch her name in record books. She has reminded a generation that comebacks are possible, that faith matters, and that sometimes the greatest stories are written by those who refuse to give up.