'Father suffered heart attack' - Shafali Verma makes painful revelation
What's the story
Star Indian women's cricket team opener Shafali Verma was dropped from the squad for the Australia tour in November.
The decision came after a string of inconsistent performances from Verma, who couldn't score a half-century in her last 10 innings.
Her highest score during the phase was 43 runs against Sri Lanka in a T20 World Cup match.
Verma has now revealed that her father had recently suffered a heart attack.
Personal struggle
Verma concealed news of her exclusion from ailing father
In a recent interview with Indian Express, Verma revealed that her father, Sanjeev Verma, had suffered a heart attack, two days before she got dropped from the team.
She chose to keep the news from him during his recovery.
"I didn't want to reveal because my father had a heart attack about two days before I got dropped from the team," she said.
Resilience
Father's support and Verma's comeback
Upon learning about his daughter's exclusion from the team, Sanjeev Verma immediately started helping her refocus on her game, despite his own recovery.
"He reminded me of the workouts and drills from my childhood... These are my strengths," Shafali said.
Since then, she has made a strong comeback in domestic cricket with 527 and 414 runs in two tournaments, including three centuries and five half-centuries.
Career shift
Verma's performance and replacement
Verma's last appearance for India before her exclusion was in an ODI series against New Zealand in October, where she scored 33, 11, and 12 runs.
After her ouster, Pratika Rawal took Verma's place as the opening batter in ODIs.
Rawal has since been on fire in six matches with a century and three half-centuries to her name.
Game improvement
Verma's focus on refining her game and fitness
Verma is now concentrating on enhancing her game and fitness.
"The constant work is on areas like when deliveries don't come to my strengths, how do I take singles, how do I rotate strike, how do I build my innings," she said.
She wants to be mentally smarter by understanding how to construct an innings better.