The Indian women’s cricket team aims to play fearless cricket while staying smart heading into the Women’s Champions Trophy at home early next year, Vice-Captain Shafali Verma said on Thursday.
India will take on Zimbabwe for the first time in a bilateral series, with the T20 series part of their preparations for the ICC event in February.
India and Zimbabwe will face off in a three-match T20 series here before moving to Vadodara for three ODIs.
“We have spoken about it, that in this series we have to play a fearless brand of cricket with smartness till the Champions Trophy. We have done lots of meetings so everyone knows what to do. We are just trying to keep growing series by series,” Shafali told reporters on the eve of the series opener.
The Indian women’s team has seen a leadership change after Harmanpreet Kaur stepped down. Smriti Mandhana was appointed captain across formats, with Shafali named deputy in T20Is and Deepti Sharma in ODIs.
“Harman provided a lot of growth to women’s cricket and the way it has shaped, it is all because of her,” Shafali said about the former skipper. After being away from the national team last year before her recall during the ODI World Cup, Shafali said her hard work across different areas helped her.
“I analysed myself when I was out of the team. I needed to work on consistency, fitness, and mental growth. I worked hard on these things, and now everything is coming together,” Shafali said.
“In 2025, I worked on every skill, from playing short balls, back-foot punches against spinners and the pull shots as well. I can see a good reflection of it now.
“I have been bowling for Haryana since 2021, so it is not new to me. I used to think that if I have to bowl for India one day, how should I prepare myself for it, and mentally I have been ahead only,” she added.
Shafali said the team did not feel the absence of middle-order batter Jemimah Rodrigues much in their last two assignments -- the Asia Cup and the Asian Games -- and new players would be tried at that spot.
“Jemi is recovering, but in the Asia Cup and the Asian Games, we did not feel much. The way Richa (Ghosh) and Harman played, and now Niki (Prasad) has come, hopefully she will do well, and we will keep trying players,” Shafali said.