India opener Shafali Verma continues to go from strength to strength at the ongoing T20 World Cup as Harmanpreet Kaur’s side romped to a seven-wicket win against Sri Lanka in Melbourne.
The 16-year-old has been the heartbeat of the Indian lineup in the tournament, getting off to quick starts and making full use of the field restrictions. Verma has shots all around the wickets and has shown that she is adept at pace and spin.
At the Junction Oval, the Rohtak-born opener displayed a wider range of strokes, going deep in her crease against the spinners and launching it behind the wicket for boundaries. She made 47 off only 34 balls – her third straight score of over 35.
Unfortunately, Verma’s search for a half-century continued after a mix-up in mid-pitch with Jemimah Rodrigues saw her fall short of the crease.
Verma is now second in the run-scoring charts behind England captain Heather Knight. Her 161 runs have come at an outrageous strike rate of 161, which includes 18 fours and a whopping nine sixes across four matches.
With the rest of the batters, including Harmanpreet and Smriti Mandhana, not firing, she has taken the onus upon herself to go for the big runs.
Watch the highlights of Shafali Verma’s knock here:
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