Five years ago, at the MCG, a 16-year-old Shafali Verma dropped Alyssa Healy in the final of the T20 World Cup. Healy went on to play a match-winning knock, and the image of a heartbroken Shafali, tears
rolling down her face, became a poignant visual.
Cut to 2025. Another final. Another shot at redemption.
This time, at home in Navi Mumbai, Shafali Verma didn’t just rewrite her story; she lived the dream every cricketer grows up chasing.
And the irony? She wasn’t even supposed to be there.
A Call from Destiny
Initially left out of India’s ODI World Cup squad, Shafali was drafted in only after Pratika Rawal – the same player who had replaced her in the side a year ago – suffered an untimely injury. Call it fate. Call it God’s plan. But what unfolded next was pure destiny.
On Sunday, November 2, Shafali Verma became the heartbeat of India’s World Cup final. She top-scored with 87 off 78 balls, striking seven fours and two sixes – helping India to a formidable total of 298. Later, she returned with the ball to dismiss two of South Africa’s biggest names – Sune Luus and Marizanne Kapp – and sealed her night with the Player of the Final award.
Luus was caught by Shafali herself, off just the second ball of her first over. Kapp fell soon after, trapped plumb in front. It was as if the script had been waiting all these years to give her the moment she was denied in 2020.
No one – not even Shafali herself – could have dreamt of such a fairytale. Yet, here it was.
A Chance Born from Misfortune
Her performance wasn’t a shock to those who know her talent. But the way it all came together – the timing, the circumstances, the redemption – that’s what made it special.
Until just a week before the final, Shafali’s name wasn’t even in the squad list. She hadn’t played an ODI for India since November 2024. Dropped for poor form, forgotten in the one format she couldn’t quite figure out.
After her exit, Rawal, the 25-year-old from Delhi, had stepped in and flourished. She became the fastest Indian to reach 500 ODI runs, then the joint-fastest to 1000. Her consistency made her India’s go-to opener alongside Smriti Mandhana. For Shafali, the door to ODI cricket seemed firmly shut.
But destiny, once again, intervened.
In a rain-hit league match against Bangladesh on October 26, Rawal injured herself. Within 24 hours, Shafali was back in blue, called up for the knockouts. She featured in the semifinal against Australia but fell cheaply for 10 off 5.
Then came the final, and everything aligned. The crowd, the stage, the story.
From being dropped to being drafted in, from heartbreak at 16 to heroics at 21 – Shafali’s journey came full circle. The same eyes that once welled up in defeat now gleamed with triumph.
India’s Moment of Truth
For India, this wasn’t just another win. It was the win that generations had waited for. After decades of near misses and heartbreaks, the Indian women’s team finally lifted their first-ever ICC trophy.
In 2005, Mithali Raj’s side reached the ODI World Cup final for the first time, only to be outclassed by Australia. In 2017, history repeated itself, this time at Lord’s, when India fell agonizingly short against England by just nine runs. Both times, they had come so close, only to watch the dream slip away.
And now, two decades since that first heartbreak, in 2025, on home soil, the dream was finally realised. For the first time ever, the Women in Blue had conquered the world.
Five years ago, the image of a crying Shafali defined India’s loss. Five years later, her smile defined India’s glory.
The stuff of dreams, indeed.
