As India Women took a convincing lead of 1-0 in the three-match T20I series against West Indies Women, Shafali Verma achieved a new feat. Not only that in her record-breaking innings she surpassed the master blaster Sachin Tendulkar.
How Shafali take India home
An unforgettable outing by youngster Shafali Verma helped India Women defeat West Indies Women by 84 runs in the first of the five-match T20I series at the Darren Sammy National Cricket Stadium in Gros Islet, St Lucia on Sunday. Shafali’s knock o73 off 49 deliveries gave the perfect foundation to India’s innings. She along with Smriti Mandhana (67 off 46) added 143 for the first wicket and gave the right kind of start. Her inning had six boundaries and four maximums as Shafali scored her runs at a strike-rate of 148.98 before getting dismissed in the 16th over. The same innings helped India registering the much-needed win and also won her the Player-of-the-Match award.
India set a target of 186 for the hosts and the score was well defended by their bowlers. Radha Yadav bowled brilliantly to finish with a maiden and two wickets for just 10 runs in her allotted four overs. Shikha Pandey and Poonam Yadav also picked up two wickets each. West Indies innings ended with only 101/9.
Shafali surpasses Sachin
On her way to the innings, Shafali became the youngest Indian ever to smash an international half-century breaking Tendulkar’s long-standing record. The legendary batsman had smashed his maiden Test fifty at the age of 16 years and 213 days whereas Shafali scored her maiden T20I fifty at just 15 years and 285 days. In the overall list, this record belongs to Johmari Logtenberg of South Africa women cricket team who achieved it at the age of 14 years.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India took to Twitter to congratulate the newcomer and applauded her efforts. They wrote, The explosive 15-year-old Shafali Verma scored her maiden half-century in the first T20I against West Indies Women today in St Lucia. Shafali is the youngest Indian ever to score an int’l fifty. #TeamIndia”
