CHANDIGARH: India's women's World Cup winner Shafali Verma on Sunday said she has faced a lot of struggles in the last year and worked "extremely hard" to improve her game, which culminated in a historic World Cup glory.

Picked as a replacement for the injured Pratika Rawal, the 21-year-old Shafali was named player of the final for her 87 runs with the bat and 2/36 with the ball in the team's 52-run win against South Africa.

"The last one year was very tough for me. I faced a lot of struggles, but I kept working extremely hard and was rewarded by God for my effort," Shafali told reporters after a felicitation programme here.

Shafali was called in to the Indian squad on the eve of the semifinal against mighty Australia and while she could not fire in the last four clash, the Haryana gir

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