‘She’s definitely in the scheme of things’: Smriti Mandhana on Shafali Verma ahead of Ireland ODIs | Cricket News

India captain Smriti Mandhana on Thursday said opener Shafali Verma remains in the scheme of things, days after she was dropped from the 3-match ODI series against Ireland. Shafali was also not in the team in last December’s ODI series against Australia.
“Harman is rested and that was very clear. Shafali in the last two or three one-day series, she’s not been part of the squad. Pratika (Rawal) in the last series has done really well in her absence, but definitely Shafali scored a lot of runs in domestic cricket, so she’s definitely in the scheme of things. I’m really happy that she went back and got those runs,” Mandhana said.
“As a team, we do not have to think what is not there because we want to go out there and have the positive mindset that we have a really balanced squad. The girls who have come in as well are really, really good. We will not think about what is not there,” she added.
Shafali was the leading run-getter in the senior women’s one-day trophy and is in red-hot form. In seven innings, she scored 527 runs at an average of 75.28 and a strike rate of 152.31.
She had smashed a 115-ball 197 for Haryana in the quarterfinals. However it was not good enough for Haryana as Bengal pulled off the chase with five wickets and five balls to spare.
Meanwhile, regular captain Captain Harmanpreet and seamer Renuka Singh Thakur have been rested for the three-match ODI series against Ireland. Harmanpreet had suffered a knee injury during the home series against the West Indies last month, forcing her to sit out of the last two T20Is before returning to play three ODIs.

The Ireland ODIs will begin on January 10 at Rajkot and all three matches will take place at the Niranjan Shah Stadium in Rajkot.

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