Data check: The big numbers from Shafali Verma’s twin half-centuries on Test debut

Almost every time Shafali Verma walks in to bat for India, she’s the youngest to some new cricketing record. And now, to go with her white-ball exploits, the 17-year-old has dazzled the cricket world with her audacious batting style in the longest format of the game.

Playing her first senior competitive match with the red ball, and in England, the teen added newer stats to her repertoire on Friday as she became the first Indian and fourth woman to score half-century in both innings on Test debut. Mixing picture-perfect defence with picturesque shot-making, she led India’s resistance on the penultimate day of the one-off Test.

Her breath-taking batting was a bright spot for India on an otherwise gloomy day as England enforced follow and less than 50 were overs played due to persistent rain.

Coming in to bat for the second time in a span of 24 hours, she reached her second straight fifty and became just the third Indian woman – and the first in over 35 years – to score fifties in both innings of a Test match.

She is just one of two players in Test history to have made two scores over 50 in the same match at the age of 17. The other, also an Indian, is none other than Sachin Tendulkar.

The 17-year-old seemed to pick up from where she left off in the first innings, where she scored an entertaining 96 before being dismissed agonisingly shot of a hundred. In the second essay, perhaps more comfortable with the conditions, she took up her level a notch higher, scoring at a brisker pace.

England vs India one-off Test match day 3 live: Play stopped by rain after another fifty for Shafali

Her second Test fifty came off just 63 balls and had as many as 10 fours – that’s 40 runs in boundaries alone – and most of which were classic cricketing strokes. Batting on 55 when rain forced an extended tea break and early stumps, the confident teen is poised to break further records on the fourth and final day if she continues.

Also read: A day to remember for Shafali Verma, beyond the record books

But as much as words can do justice in describing what a precocious and significant innings she has played at Bristol, the numbers add context to her incredible ability. She has barely played with the Kookaburra red ball, faced premier pacers in overcast English conditions, or even played a long knock in ODIs, (She is yet to play the format.)

But despite this relative inexperience, she has broken a slew of batting records with her sensational Test debut.

In the first innings, the teen became the second youngest woman to score a Test fifty on debut. Her knock of 96 off 152 balls had 13 fours and two sixes. It was the highest score by Indian women on Test debut and helped form the highest-ever opening stand for India (167 with Smriti Mandhana) and away from home in women’s Test cricket.

Shafali is currently placed fifth in the list of most runs scored in a debut Test, a chart she might just climb higher on.

She is the second Indian player across genders to score 50+ in both innings on debut and the youngest to do so. She is also the first player aged under 18 to score 100+ runs in a women’s Test match.

The teen, who became the youngest Indian cricketer to score a half-century in international cricket, surpassing Sachin Tendulkar’s 30-year-old record when she was only 15, could well add to these age records. Perhaps the youngest woman to score a Test century, depending on how she goes on the final day, but even otherwise, she has two years for this.

Given she was going to make her debut, given she was 17, given she looked in good touch against South Africa, given how few women’s Tests are played, one could figure there would be some milestones that Shafali Verma would cross even if she had a half decent Test. But how many could have foreseen this level of impact?

Here’s a look at some of the numbers from her twin fifties.

Watch day three highlights here:

Stats via ESPNcricinfo statsguru.