“I just saw Shafali standing there” - Harmanpreet Kaur reveals the reason behind giving bowling to Shafali Verma in the final

Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur has revealed the actual reason behind bringing in Shafali Verma to bowl in the grand finale against South Africa Women, which helped the Indian team to open the gates of the opposition in the second innings.

Speaking in the post-match presentation ceremony, Kaur asserted that Shafali was having a good day as she had scored an 87-run knock in the first innings. For the same reason, Kaur went ahead with a gut feeling of giving Shafali one over. 

Interestingly, Shafali changed the game’s complexion, picking two important wickets to turn the game upside down. While she pocketed the wicket of Sune Luus via caught and bowled for 25 runs off 31 balls, later, she picked up the wicket of veteran all-rounder Marizanne Kapp for four runs.

“I mean, when Laura and Sune was batting, they were looking really good. And I just saw Shefali standing there. And the way she was batting today, I knew today's her day. She was showing something special today. And I just thought I have to go with my gut feeling,” Harmanpreet Kaur said in the post-match presentation ceremony.

“If my heart is saying I could give at least one over to her, I'm going to give her. And then I just asked her, can you bowl one over? And she was so ready. And she always wanted to bowl for the team. And I think that was a turning point for us. When she came to the team, that time we spoke to her, we might need to bowl two or three overs. Then she was like, no, if you give me the ball, I'm going to bowl 10 overs for the team. And that showed how confident she was to bowl for the team. And I think credit goes to her, she was so positive. She was there for the team,” she added.

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