Shafali Verma breaks this WT20I record of Laura Wolvaardt: Details
What's the story
Indian women's cricket team opener Shafali Verma has set a new world record for the most runs in a calendar year in Women's T20 Internationals (WT20Is). The young batter broke South African legend Laura Wolvaardt's record of 824 runs during the Asian Games 2026 final against Sri Lanka on September 22. She needed just 10 runs to break the record and achieved this feat on the seventh ball of her innings against Sri Lanka at Korogi Sports Park, Nisshin.
Record-breaking year
Verma's blistering knock of 48 runs
Verma has been in phenomenal form this year, scoring a total of 863 runs in 24 T20Is at an average of 39.22, as per Cricinfo.
She made a blistering contribution of 48 runs off just 29 balls in the Asian Games final, hitting three fours and three sixes.
However, her innings was cut short by Chamudi Praboda on the last ball of the 10th over.
She had added 99 runs with fellow opener Smriti Mandhana (79).
In addition to her record-breaking run tally, Verma has also scored one century and seven fifties in WT20Is this year (SR: 162.83).
Information
Most sixes in a year
Verma scored a fine 100* off 49 balls in her last outing, which was against Bangladesh. The game saw her become the batter with the most WT20I sixes in a year. She went past Sri Lanka's Chamari Athapaththu's tally of 32 such hits in 2024. The Indian opener has now raced to 38 sixes this year (99 fours).
Stats
100 sixes in the format
Verma's tally of 107 WT20I sixes is the joint-most for an Indian alongside Mandhana.
Overall, the former has raced to 3,325 runs from 119 WT20Is at an average of 30.22 (SR: 141). This includes 22 scores of 50 or more.
540 of her runs have come across 16 games against the Lankans at 38.57 (50s: 4).