Former Indian cricketer WV Raman disagrees with the choice to incorporate Shafali Verma in India’s U-19 World Cup squad.
Addressing the choice on his weekly present, Wednesdays with WV, Raman stated whereas he understood the deserves of bringing in gamers with expertise, he would have ‘personally not pumped for the move.’
“(Shafali) is a very clever girl. In terms of cricket, she’s always thinking about how she can become better. She’s keen on working on her skills. Along those lines, there’s no problem at all. But the very concept of getting her to captain the U-19 side can be looked at in two ways. One, they wanted to bring someone who can inspire others because it can be an overwhelming experience for the young girls making their debut in the World Cup. Given this is the inaugural edition as well, there will be plenty of nerves and anticipation. So the thinking would have been that you would need someone to calm the nerves and be a mature influence on the time. Shafali may be under 19, but she is a mature presence given she has plenty of experience and has played a lot of cricket.”
“On a personal note, I don’t think I am an advocate of making a player play on a lesser level. Shafali has played a lot of international cricket, and moving her down to the U-19 level; I don’t see it as a great move because in these cases, players can be harmed in a certain way. If you’re used to playing international cricket and working towards keeping your competitive edge, you need to stay there. There’s no point in trying to get someone to play a lesser quality in terms of cricket.”
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Raman added that this was to not say the standard of cricket was decrease within the U-19 stage however believed there was the danger of complacency from senior gamers coming right down to age group cricket.
“On a mental level, it could be a huge challenge for her because it’s all up to her as to how she approaches it and what kind of impact she wants to make because she may tend to take it lightly and think it’s a walk in the park which it might not be. It’ll be a challenge to see how she handles the responsibility as she’s going be the cynosure of all eyes because she’s made a huge impact in international cricket,” he stated.
The gamers, who’ve made the U-19 crew, have performed the Challenger sequence and a T20 sequence in opposition to New Zealand within the run-up to the inaugural version of the World Cup in South Africa in January 2023. Shafali and Richa Ghosh, set to function within the T20I sequence in opposition to Australia, will miss the final sport and be part of the U-19 camp in Bengaluru earlier than the crew flies out to South Africa.
“Fitting in won’t be a problem. What could pose a challenge is, if you don’t see a few players play and have to take a few calls, how are you going to do it? That will be the biggest challenge for Shafali and Richa. You will have to go by someone else’s words – maybe the manager, coach, or whoever is assisting the U-19 side. The challenge is for these two as they have come down quite a few notches to handle the side and the expectations coming with them,” he added.