After a run of poor form, Shafali Verma found herself back in the runs with a splendid half-century in the ongoing Women’s Asia Cup 2022 match between India and Bangladesh at the Sylhet Cricket Ground on Saturday (October 8). Verma scored a stunning half-century as part of an incredible opening partnership with stand-in skipper Smirit Mandhana.
After winning the toss and batting first, Verma looked at her fluent best and gave a timely reminder to fans on why she is regarded among the best young players in the world. The Indian batter put up a 96-run stand for the first wicket with Mandhana and scored a knock of 55 runs in just 44 balls.
By virtue of her splendid effort; she reached a major milestone by completing 1,000 runs in T20I cricket. The 18-year-old created a new world record by becoming the youngest women’s cricketer to achieve the feat. In fact, she beat teammate Jemimah Rodrigues’ record to achieve the feat. Jemimah had reached the milestone last year at the age of 21 years and 32 days. Meanwhile, Shafali has just taken 18 years and 253 days to complete the milestone.
Shafali is also the fastest woman to reach the milestone from the time of her T20I debut (3 years, 14 days). She beat Australia’s full-time skipper Meg Lanning’s long-standing record (3 years, 87 days) to complete the milestone. She is also the fastest to complete 1000 T20I runs as far in terms of balls faced having done so in 735 balls.
Talking about the match, the Women in Blue put a total of 159 on the board. After Shafali and Smriti’s departure, Jemimah Rodrigues gave the team a strong finish with an unbeaten knock of 35 in 24 balls. India have so far won three and lost one game in the tournament.
