Key Points

After being dropped following India’s group-stage exit at the T20 World Cup last October, Shafali returned to the national setup for the T20I series against England. She made a strong case for herself, finishing as the second-highest run-scorer in the series, just behind opening partner Smriti Mandhana.

Shafali amassed 176 runs at an average of 35.20 and an impressive strike rate of 158.55, with scores of 20, 3, 47, 31, and a blistering 75 off 41 balls. Her two highest scores came in narrow defeats at The Oval and Edgbaston, where England edged India with last-ball wins.

On Saturday night, Shafali smashed a half-century in just 23 balls - the joint second-fastest by an Indian woman, tied with Mandhana and only behind Richa Ghosh’s 18-ball effort against the West Indies last year.

Shafali will not feature in the upcoming ODI series beginning Wednesday in Southampton. However, Muzumdar confirmed that she is “without a doubt” in contention for the ODI World Cup at home, which kicks off on September 30. For now, though, Pratika Rawal continues to hold the spot as the first-choice opener.

Since making her debut at home against the West Indies in December, Rawal has averaged 63.80 across 11 ODIs. Her standout performance is a career-best 154 against Ireland at home, and she has also notched up five half-centuries during this period.

"It just shows that we've got a lot of depth now in this India squad. Pratika Rawal, she was drafted in the month of December, so it's almost six months, but she has left a mark, a big mark in her initial stage in her international career," Muzumdar said.

"So I think there's a lot of depth in this Indian line-up, a good headache to have as a coaching staff. And Shafali has been a terrific player. There's no doubt that she will be in the mix. She will be amongst the core group of India. There's no doubt in my mind about it. But at the moment, Pratika, she has joined the squad probably four or five days prior to the ODI. The depth is stronger, it's getting stronger."

While the ODI series will offer a clearer measure of both teams' World Cup preparations, India found additional positives in the emergence of left-arm spinner Shree Charani, who was named Player of the Series in the T20I leg of the tour.

Charani, who made her T20I debut in the series opener, finished as the top wicket-taker with ten wickets at an average of 14.80 and an economy rate of 7.46. She made an immediate impact with figures of 4 for 12 in her debut match. Although she went wicketless and gave away 35 runs in the final game, head coach Amol Muzumdar was encouraged by her progress.

"She's been a find of the WPL. From the WPL, we identified her and then I think her progress has been fantastic; she's been phenomenal in this series. We were searching for a left-arm spinner and she's fitted the bill perfectly," India head coach said.

- IANS