Rohtak: On Railway Road in Rohtak, India batter Shafali Verma’s father Sanjeev Verma sank under the weight of garlands, his mouth stuffed with sweets. At home, his wife Parveen Verma welcomed guests with gudd ki barfi. When their daughter lifted the World Cup Sunday night, the house was thronged by well-wishers. The family had to slip away to a relative’s home to catch some sleep.
Now, the door that was once always open is locked from the inside. Every knock is met with a cautious voice: “Kaun hai ji?” followed by, “Shafali ke papa bahar hai”—her father is out.
“We didn’t get time to exactly feel this happiness… we are still not able to process it,” said Parveen, in her thick Haryanvi accent.
For generations, the frenzy and fame of Indian cricket belonged to the men in blue. On Sunday night, that grip loosened. As the Women in Blue lifted the World Cup, the fervour finally extended to women’s cricket. Captain Harmanpreet Kaur broke into an impromptu bhangra before receiving the trophy from ICC chairman Jay Shah. Later, she called the victory a “revolution”.
New dreams have been sown, and the hearts of young girls are soaring with pride across India.
“This victory should inspire girls across the country to chase their dreams, whether it’s holding a cricket bat or playing any other sport,” said Parveen.
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The girl who bowled Rohtak over
Shafali’s mother whispered prayers under her breath. Her father had his fingers crossed. One six after another — Shafali Verma was on fire. When she took to bowling in the second innings, she struck again, dismissing South Africa’s Sune Luus with a nifty caught-and-bowled. Moments later, she knocked down Marizanne Kapp’s stumps.
When India won, the narrow lanes of Rohtak erupted. Crackers lit up the sky, people danced, and neighbours flocked to the Verma home. Their village girl hadn’t just won the World Cup, she had been named Woman of the Match.
Teary-eyed, Sanjeev Verma called his daughter. But first, he asked to speak to captain Harmanpreet Kaur. “Thank you for giving my daughter a chance,” he said, as the house jostled to catch a glimpse of the cricket stars.
“It was Shafali’s day,” the captain responded.
Shafali was 10 when her father took her to a barber to cut her long, wavy hair. That evening, she stepped onto the cricket ground in Rohtak to play against the boys — but no one knew she was a girl.
Today, girls and parents from our neighbourhood are coming to us and asking how they can make their daughters join cricket
-Parveen Verma
“At the time, cricket was rarely considered a sport for girls in Haryana, and there was no girls’ team for her to join. And I wanted my daughter to practice on a daily basis, so I took the step,” Sanjeev recounted, as his phone buzzed with congratulatory messages.
Twenty-one-year-old Shafali’s entry into the World Cup was not planned. She was called in as a replacement after Pratika Rawal suffered an ankle injury and was ruled out of the tournament. Shafali was in Gujarat, preparing for a domestic match, when she received the call — and could hardly believe her ears. She was being asked to fly to Mumbai to play in the World Cup. The first person she called was her father.
“She kept saying, ‘Papa, there’s good news. Please guess.’ I couldn’t for a moment. But she insisted, and then I realized she was talking about entering the Indian team. I said, ‘Entry hogayi India mei,’ and she shouted a big ‘Yes!’” he recalled.
When Shafali was made Woman of the Match, she jumped onto the stage with the same boy cut and said she discovered the cricketer in her after watching Sachin Tendulkar as a child. “I keep talking to Sachin Tendulkar sir and he keeps guiding and inspiring me,” she said.
“It was his dream to become a cricketer. After we got married, he told me, ‘I will make my children play for India.’ And here we are,” said Shafali’s mother, Parveen.
Not only Shafali but her elder brother Sahil and younger sister Nancy train under a coach, trying to break into the sport. At their house in Rohtak, a stream of guests kept pouring in to congratulate the family. “Beti ne naam roshan kar diya”— a daughter has done us all proud—was the refrain echoing through phone calls, messages, and tight embraces.
A captain’s ’gut feeling’
It was captain Harmanpreet Kaur and team coach Amol Mazumdar who decided to bring Shafali into the squad.
After the win, Kaur told the media, “I never wanted Shafali to feel any less, or for the injury situation to affect her.” She added it was her “gut feeling” to hand Shafali the ball.
“It could have been risky, but I was confident because Shafali had shown me that confidence,” she said.
Kaur’s decisions as captain are rooted in her own journey from her hometown Moga to Mumbai. The path wasn’t easy. She shuttled between her work as a clerk in the railways and rigorous training sessions as a young member of India’s national women’s cricket team.
A firm believer in destiny, Kaur’s father once bought her a T-shirt that read, “Good Batsman”. At 36, she has redefined the landscape of Indian cricket with her astute captaincy.
Kaur had her breakout moment in 2017, when she scored 171 runs against Australia in the ICC Women’s World Cup. The World Cup took another eight years, but Kaur often credits her coach Harmandeep Singh Sodhi for honing her game through the years.
This World Cup win is no ordinary title. It’s a turning point for women’s sport in India.
Vice-captain Smriti Mandhana has voiced her hope of it bringing about a lasting change.
“The ultimate dream is to see two girls’ teams playing gully cricket,” she said in an interview before the win. “Many girls have started playing professionally now. But I want to see girls playing cricket casually for the love of the game.”
On social media, a video went viral of Harmanpreet Kaur running to her father and him lifting her in his arms as soon as the team won. Batter Jemimah Rodrigues, who has been the target of online religion-based trolling, posted a photo of herself curled up in bed beside the trophy with her teammates, captioned: “Are we still dreaming?”
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Proving her place
When Shafali first joined the stadium to practice cricket, her coach was surprised by her game. He exclaimed she played like a boy.
“He said, ‘Yeh toh ladke jaisa kehlti hai’,” her father recalled. At the age of 15, she made her T20I debut for India. In 2020, she climbed to number one in the ICC T20I batting rankings.
There’ve been precarious moments as well. When she was called back as a replacement for the World Cup, her game against Australia in the semi-final fell flat. The internet started blazing with doubts about her place in the team. With the match against South Africa, the critics were silenced.
Now, the latest photo on her Instagram account shows her hugging the World Cup trophy with the caption: “Grateful for everything.” The over 2,000 comments include many messages of “congratulations,” with some calling her “god’s child.”
At home, her parents and relatives swapped stories from her childhood — how she never shared her clothes or toys, and how she would savour roti and chutney but wouldn’t touch ghee because of her strict diet.
“Today, girls and parents from our neighbourhood are coming to us and asking how they can make their daughters join cricket,” said Parveen.
As he scrolled through Shafali’s World Cup photos, Sanjeev chimed in: “Sachin Tendulkar was her inspiration, and now, she is theirs.”
(Edited by Asavari Singh)