South Africa skipper Laura Wolvaardt conceded that her side was left completely stunned to see Shafali Verma bowling in the Women’s World Cup final. She mentioned it as the defining moment of the match as India defeated South Africa by 52 runs at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai.
Wolvaardt mentioned in the post-match press conference that Shafali Verma’s bowling was a surprising element in the match.
“Didn’t really expect her to bowl much today, so a bit of a surprise factor from them. She bowled front of the hand and really slow and was able to pick up a couple of wickets. In a World Cup final you don’t want to lose wickets to a part-time bowler, but frustrating that she was able to pick up two big ones as well,” Wolvaardt said at the post-match press conference.
“Then we almost had to err on the side of caution to not give her any more wickets. She bowled pretty well. Frustrating, I guess, because it’s not really the person you plan for. But yeah, she played well,” she added.
The Women in Blue scripted history as they clinched their maiden title after setting a competitive total of 298 runs. Batting first, Shafali was the top batter for India as she scored 87 off 78 balls and gave a strong momentum to the team. In the second innings, South Africa were cruising smoothly in their chase but Harmanpreet Kaur decided to make a bold call and send Shafali Verma to bowl. It was then Verma took two crucial wickets of – Sune Luus and Marizanne Kapp.
In Verma’s overall ODI career, she has just bowled 14 overs but despite that Harmanpreet Kaur showed her confidence in her and it eventually paid off.
