India opener Shafali Verma has become a world-renowned force in women’s cricket. She is often termed as ‘Lady Sehwag’ by fans for her aggressive batting style at the top of the order.
Born on 28 January 2004 in Rohtak, 18-year-old Shafali Verma is the current number 1 batter in ICC Women T20I rankings. Making her debut in 2019, in 28 T20Is. the right-hander has scored 687 runs while striking at 142. She has stroked 33 sixes and 81 fours in T20Is.
Shafali made her ODI and Test debuts last year and proved that her dynamic batting and quality will work in the longer formats as well. In 2 Tests – one each in England and Australia – Verma notched up three fifties with a best of 96. She also left impressions in The Women Hundred and the WBBL last year.
Shafali Verma got her inspiration to play cricket when she watched legendary India batsman Sachin Tendulkar play in his last Ranji Trophy match at the Rohtak stadium in November 2013 when she was 9. She was so inspired to see Sachin take Mumbai to victory that she picked up the bat to move forward in cricket.
Later on, Shafali Verma broke Sachin Tendulkar‘s 30-year-old record one day by becoming the youngest Indian cricketer to score a fifty in international cricket. She was 15 years, 285 days when she notched her maiden international fifty while Tendulkar scored his first international half-century at the age of 16 years, 213 days.
Verma is the world’s third-highest run-scorer in a debut Test. She scored 159 runs (1st innings – 96 runs and 2nd innings – 63 runs) in the Bristol Test against England last year.
Shafali’s father, Sanjeev Verma, has been instrumental in making his daughter an explosive batsman. It is learned that whenever he used to train Shafali in childhood, he used to reward her for hitting big shots. Her father, who trained Shafali since childhood, used to reward her and her brother with 10 to 15 rupees for thumping big shots.
Shafali Verma was a key player in India reaching the final of the 2020 Women’s T20 World Cup, where they lost to Australia in the final. Shafali will again have millions of eyes when she walks out to bat in the upcoming Women’s ODI World Cup in New Zealand.
