Women's T20 Asia Cup: Harmanpreet Kaur lauds 'responsible' Shafali Verma
What's the story
India women's cricket team captain Harmanpreet Kaur has praised opener Shafali Verma for her stellar performance in the 2026 T20 Asia Cup final against Sri Lanka. The match, however, ended in a bizarre manner with a long delay for presentations and absence of Indian players. The situation was reminiscent of the 2025 men's Asia Cup when India had refused to collect the trophy after learning it would be handed over by Mohsin Naqvi, the Asian Cricket council president who is also the PCB chief and the interior minister of Pakistan.
Player's impact
Shafali was the top scorer of the tournament
Shafali was the top run-scorer of the Women's T20 Asia Cup 2026.
Shafali ended her campaign with a total of 236 runs from 5 matches at an average of 47.20.
She clocked 3 fifties. Shafali hit 11 sixes and 28 fours, having struck at 171.01.
She ended the tournament on a high note with a blistering 68 off 39 balls as India thrashed Sri Lanka by 72 runs in the final.
Captain's words
Kaur praises Shafali's all-round performance
Kaur praised her for taking responsibility and performing well with both bat and ball.
"I think Shafali had a great tournament and it's good to see somebody like Shefali who is taking the responsibility and doing the job with bat and ball. I can't ask anything else from her," she said after the match.
She further added, "It's all about playing good cricket and I am very happy about that. We set some really high standards for us and we had to match them every day."
Match highlights
Record-breaking opening partnership between Shafali and Mandhana
The final match was also highlighted by a record-breaking opening partnership between Shafali and Smriti Mandhana. They added 129 runs, the highest for any wicket in the women's T20 Asia Cup.
India head coach Amol Muzumdar praised their performance, saying it was "Absolutely fantastic." He added that the left-hand-right-hand combination of Shafali and Smriti complemented each other well on the pitch.
Game plan
India head coach Amol Muzumdar speaks on the match
Muzumdar revealed that India's strategy was to bat first considering the slow nature of the Dubai pitches.
After posting a total of 183 for 5, their main target was to dismiss Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu early.
The plan worked as Sri Lanka was bowled out for just 111 runs.
Muzumdar said, "We did have the luxury of having three good quality spinners in our ranks." which played a key role in their victory.