(Cricket news) On 9th November 2019, Shafali Verma at just 15 years old became the youngest Indian to score a half century in international cricket against the West Indies. Verma opened the batting with Smriti Mandhana and scored 73 off 49 balls. The pair also broke the record of the highest T20I partnership by an Indian pair as they put together 143 runs and India ended up winning the match comfortably.
Two months prior to that, Verma had become the youngest Indian to play a T20 International. She ended up scoring 158 runs in five matches against the West Indies and was awarded the player of the series award. Before taking international cricket by storm, Shafali Verma had scored 34 runs in 31 balls for Velocity in the Women's T20 Challenge.
She became the no.1 ranked WT20I batter and went on to play the 2020 WT20I where India finished as runners up. Verma scored 163 runs and finished as the tournament's 5th highest scorer and India's highest. In June 2021, she made her Test debut against England and scored 96 runs in her first Test innings and was named Player of the match. Later in the same month she became the youngest player to play all three formats of International cricket for India.
Now in 2021 Shafali Verma is already an integral part of the Indian side in all three formats. Her opening partnership with Smriti Mandhana has been consistently delivering for India in all formats. With over 1000 International runs in 36 international innings before her 18th birthday, Verma's future in Indian cricket is exciting to say the least. She's currently playing for the Sydney Sixers in the WBBL. In the upcoming 2022 WODI World Cup Shefali Verma will play a very crucial role in the side.
