"She will have to make those little adjustments"- Delhi Capitals coach on how Shafali Verma can take her game to the next level
WPL team Delhi Capitals' (DC) head coach Jonathan Batty believes star Indian opener Shafali Verma should add strike rotation to her repertoire to go on and achieve the success that her potential has promised.
Batty shed light on how Shafali fails to convert her starts into big scores and feels she needs to learn the art of pacing her innings in singles and doubles as well alongside all the big hits.
Here's what Batty was quoted as saying about Shafali Verma by The Indian Express:
"If you look at the very best batters in the world. They are the ones who are excellent in the powerplay and will maximise the two fielders’ outside the 30 yards. But once the restriction is lifted, you obviously have to keep the scoreboard moving in that middle over. That’s the difference between a good batter making a good 40 or 50 to a great who is scoring match-winning 80s or even a hundred. It is the 80s and 100s which really takes the game away from the opposition."
He added:
"You have to remember Shafali is still so young still. She is learning all the time. By forcing her to change her game, we don’t want to lose her exciting strokeplay because that’s her super strength. But she will have to make those little adjustments in her game because the more runs she will score, the higher the chances for her team to win the match."
DC coach on Shafali Verma learning from Meg Lanning
Shafali Verma and Meg Lanning together were arguably the best opening pair in the WPL 2023, taking their team to the final. Batty feels Shafali can learn a lot from the former Australian skipper's experience and that it could only help the youngster prosper as a batter.
On this, he stated:
"What I have seen in the WPL last year is that Shafali could go and become one of the best players in international cricket. Someone like Meg has played for so long and has done so much, if Shafali can learn a little bit from her, pick up a few things from her experience, she will benefit massively from it. It was great to see the way Shafali played against England the other night. Her game will keep on moving forward."
Shafali Verma scored 52 off 42 balls in the first T20I against England and that innings probably showed the issue that Batty tried to underline.