Young opener Shafali Verma fires again as India thrash Windies
A couple of months back, Men In Blue scripted success in the Caribbean. And now, the Indian women are on a roll, as they tamed the hosts by 10 wickets in the second of the five-match T20I series in St. Lucia on Sunday. Young opener Shafali Verma (69*) was in the spotlight once again, as we look at how the match unfolded.
Windies skipper, Anisa Mohammed won the toss and elected to bat first, but they were off to a shaky start. Furthermore, it was spinner Deepti Sharma (4/10), whose bowling crumbled the batting order of Windies like a pile of cards. The middle-order batter Chedean Nation was the top scorer, slamming 32 runs, as the side could finish the innings at only 103/7.
When it came to the Indian batters, they played fearlessly, as the Indian openers completed the job by themselves. India won the match with 57 balls to spare as Shafali Verma scored her second consecutive half-century. She was well supported by Smriti Mandhana (30*) While Windies used seven bowlers, all succumbed to the pressure of the low scoreboard total.
As Shafali scored her second career half-century in the format, she also hit the third fastest half-century, among Indian batswomen, in the format, off just 26 deliveries. The first two positions are occupied by Mandhana.
We aren't done yet. Another day and another fifty for this young opener. Shafali brings up her half-century today in just 26 balls, which is the 3rd fastest by an Indian woman.👏
— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) November 10, 2019
Shafali has been playing ruthless cricket ever since her debut. Notably, she recently broke a 30-year-old record held by legend Sachin Tendulkar. After her half-century in the opening T20I on Saturday against Windies, she became the youngest Indian to do the same, at the age of only 15 years and 285 days. Tendulkar had hit his maiden fifty at 16 years and 214 days.
Yesterday Shafali Verma against West Indies Women made 73 at Gros Islet in the Women's T20I match.
— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) November 10, 2019
At 15 years 285 days, she became the youngest to register a fifty score for India in an international cricket match!
Sachin Tendulkar was 16y-214d when he made his maiden Test 50.
Shafali hails from a small town in Haryana. She has played professional cricket for teams like Haryana Women and Velocity, prior to her international call-up in September 2019 for T20Is against South Africa. She became the youngest woman to play a T20I for India. So far, she has played six T20Is for the side, scoring 206 runs at an average of 41.20.
