New Delhi [India], June 4 (ANI): India women's cricket team is looking to clinch the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026 trophy after securing the home ODI World Cup last year, where Shafali Verma was called as an injury replacement for Pratika Rawal ahead of the knockout stages and helped her side win the tournament with a few crucial knocks.

Team India had to make a late replacement ahead of the knockout stages after Rawal suffered an ankle injury during the match against Bangladesh.

As the Women in Blue now set their sights on lifting India's first-ever ICC Women's T20 World Cup, Smriti Mandhana reflected on JioStar's 'Unstoppable' on the injury to a key player at the crucial juncture of the tournament, while Shafali Verma opened up about being left out of the squad initially and her mindset after receiving the call-up.

Speaking on JioStar's 'Unstoppable', Verma commented on not getting picked in the squad initially and said, 'Missing out on the World Cup squad for a tournament in India was one of the saddest feelings for me. But as they say, God has plans for everyone. The initial days were very difficult because everywhere I went, people kept asking why I wasn't in the team.'

She added, 'Eventually, I accepted it and focused on what I could control. I found a quiet space with just my brother and father around me and told myself this was the time to work harder than ever on my game. I even told my brother to be strict with me and call me out whenever he felt I was easing off or not giving my best during practice.'

Verma played only two matches in that World Cup. She first played in the semi-final against Australia, where she made a quick 10 off just five balls, while her side was chasing a big target of 339. She was named Player of the Match in the final against South Africa, where she played a big knock of 87 runs off 78 balls, which helped India set a 299-run target. They defeated the Proteas by 52 runs to win the final.

On her emotions after getting a late call-up, she said, 'I was at the hotel, playing with a friend, when I saw a call from my manager. I wasn't following the team's matches a lot, so I wasn't aware what had happened. So, he told me that Pratika had been injured and that I needed to come in.'

She added, 'I felt bad for her because no one wants a sportsperson to get injured, but at the same time, I started thinking about how quickly I needed to get mentally prepared for a World Cup semi-final. After being out of the team for nearly a year, it wasn't an easy switch to make all of a sudden.'

India vice-captain Mandhana also shared her thoughts on the decision to bring in Shafali Verma as the replacement player.

'Having international experience was very important, and it had to be an opener as well. In big matches, sometimes you need that X-factor. Everyone felt there was no better person than Shafali for that job. I told her one thing after her first practice session, that she was in the team because of her performances,' she said.

'She had done extremely well in domestic cricket, dominating every bowling attack possible. I told her to treat the remaining games like domestic matches, go out there and enjoy herself. And what better stage to enjoy than the semi-final and the final,' Mandhana concluded.

India squad for the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Bharti Fulmali, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh, Shree Charani, Yastika Bhatia, Nandani Sharma, Arundhati Reddy, Renuka Singh, Kranti Gaud, Shreyanka Patil, Radha Yadav. (ANI)