Sanjeev Verma recalls the conversation with her daughter Shafali Verma last year, when the opener was dropped from India’s ODI squad for the tour to Australia. “I had told her, Koi dikkat nahi, aap practice karo and apka time ayega. Bus taiyar rehna (No problem. You focus on your practice and your time will come. The only thing is that you should be ready). And when she missed making it to the Indian team for the World Cup, I repeated the same words to her.” On Sunday, as India made history by winning their first ever World Cup , beating South Africa in the final, it was Shafali who walked away with the Player of the Match award. The youngest to do so at 21 in World Cup history.

When Shafali was dropped from the Indian team last year, the news had arrived just days after her father Sa

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