Michael Vaughan urges India to bring back Shafali Verma in the starting XI for the clash against Australia

India Women seem to be in dire straits at the moment after succumbing to a massive defeat against defending champions England. England, who hadn’t registered a single win in their opening three matches at the World Cup ran away with a four-wicket win against the Women in Blue.

The runners-up of the previous edition of the World Cup had a horrible day in the office with the bat. Besides Smriti Mandhana and Richa Ghosh, nobody was able to make a mark and the entire batting unit got cleaned up for only 134 runs inside 36.2. The total was never going to be big enough for the bowlers to defend.

As a result, India find themselves in third place at the moment, level on points with New Zealand and West Indies. To make matters worse, they are yet to play Australia who already look like title contenders. Mithali Raj and co are staring at an early exit from the tournament unless they can do the impossible and defeat Australia who are still undefeated in the competition and are on top of the standings.

Former England captain Michael Vaughan has urged the Indian team management to bring back Shafali Verma in the starting XI as the hard-hitting opener could make an instant impact. The 18-year-old was dropped after getting out on a duck in the opening match against Pakistan and didn’t play the following games against New Zealand, West Indies and England.

“I would go with Shafali Verma. To beat Australia, good is not enough. You need exceptional. And Verma can provide you with the exceptional. It may not be her day; she might not get any. But to beat Australia, you can’t just prod along. You are going to need something above par. And Verma can provide that,” said Vaughan.

Meanwhile, former Indian cricketer Anjum Chopra has asked the team to draw inspiration from the match in which they ended Australia’s record winning streak last year. Meg Lanning’s team was on a 26-match winning streak before losing the match against India.

“India would consistently want to remind themselves that it was them who broke the streak of wins of Australia in Australia last year. That’s the consolation for them after this game,” she said.