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Ahead of the Women's Asia Cup campaign semifinal against Bangladesh, Indian opener Shafali Verma spoke on "starting from zero" as a batter during the match and taking confidence from her past outings this year.
With 104 runs in three matches, including a half-century, Shafali has been a crucial contributor for India in the tournament, forming a hard-hitting opening pair with Smriti Mandhana. Her form has also carried over from Indias previous meeting with Bangladesh at the ICC Womens T20 World Cup 2026, where she was named Player of the Match after scoring 53 from 34 balls. In the previous match against Pakistan, while she could not score, she became the youngest to reach the mark of 3,000 women's T20I runs at the age of 22 years and 220 days and the fastest as well, in just 2,182 deliveries. Shafali has been really solid in the T20Is this year, with 543 runs in 19 innings at an average of 28.57 and a strike rate of 151.67, including five fifties. As a batter, whenever I go to bat, I just start from zero. But what came from that innings, it is just confidence. So, I will take that confidence and just start from zero again, she said ahead of the match, as quoted by ICC. India have also had time to reset ahead of the knockout stages of the Asia Cup, with the team getting a four-day break after their seven-wicket win over arch-rivals Pakistan. We had good preparation. We got four days of break, and during those days, we recovered well and did practice as well. So, we are all ready for the semis, Shafali said. While Indias openers have provided consistency, the middle order has had a less settled tournament, continuing an issue that was also evident during this years Womens T20 World Cup. Shafali, however, remains confident in the players around her, particularly the teams finishers. Well, I would say there are a few bad days. But they all are very good players. They all are very good batters. Just talking about Bharti (Fulmali) and Richa (Ghosh), they all are very good finishers and even do great things in the middle order as well. So, I am pretty sure they will do well for our team, she said. The conditions in Dubai are another factor India has been preparing for. Shafali believes the spin-friendly surface is familiar enough for the team to adapt quickly. Of course, the conditions here are similar, like how it is in India. So, we all know the conditions. There is a bit of turn in the wicket. We are all prepared for that, and I also know about the conditions. So, I just go out there, take time and enjoy it, she signed off. (ANI)
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