India's ODI captain Mithali Raj yesterday lavished praise on Shafali Verma, 15, and said the aggressive opener can serve the women's team for a long time with proper grooming and exposure. "I seriously think that she [Shafali] is a talented youngster. And given the right kind of exposure and [if] mentored properly, she can be the future player for India," Mithali said.

Shafali, who replaced the recently retired Mithali in the T20 squad, earned his maiden call-up for the ongoing T20 series against South Africa. Though India won the opening game in Surat, Shafali was dismissed for a duck. India will play a three-match ODI series against South Africa after the ongoing five-match T20 series.