India Women tour of England 2021

Twitter goes crazy after 17-year-old Shafali Varma’s age was shown 28 years on TV

June 29, 2021
Team Female Cricket

India women played their first ODI against England on Sunday and teen sensation Shafali Verma made her ODI debut in this very match. England won the match by a whopping 8 wickets after chasing the target of 202 in only 34.5 overs.

 

Tammy Beaumont and Natalie Sciver's Partnership helped England beat India by 8 Wickets. PC: Getty Images
Tammy Beaumont and Natalie Sciver’s Partnership helped England beat India by 8 Wickets. PC: Getty Images

 

After making a dazzling Test debut with half-centuries in both the innings, which includes her score of 96, the highest score by a women’s test debutant, Shafali Verma stepped out in the dark blue jersey to represent India. She started her innings strongly by hitting 3 boundaries but gave away her wicket to Katherine Brunt in the fifth over.

While Shafali was on the field, the broadcasters made a mistake that sent the Twitteratis on a frenzy. They goofed up her age by showing it 28 years. The real age of Shafali Verma is 17 years and the age gap of 11 years sent the fans into a crazy state and the memes started to make their way on social media.

 

Shafali Verma's age shown "28" on LIVE Tv. PC: Screengrab
Shafali Verma’s age shown “28” on LIVE Tv. PC: Twitter

 

While some people started asking the broadcasters if they were drunk at the time, others said that they were showing 28 because she plays like a 28-year-old experienced player. Some posted screenshots of ESPN showing Shafali Verma’s real age.

Before the game, Mithali Raj said in an interview that she wants the youngster to play without any pressure, this match being her debut match, and was excited to see her play.

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“That’s how she plays, her strength and style of batting. There will be times when she gives us a head start. She’s a young kid, she’ll also learn to build an innings. As a captain, I want her to enjoy her style of playing. If we lose early wickets, we as middle order are there to rebuild, or if we get a good start, take the momentum forward. We have the batting depth to do that,” said Raj.

India will play their next ODI against England on the 30th of June at The Cooper Associates County Ground in Taunton and hopefully there we will get to see a long, high-scoring inning from the bat of Shafali Verma.

Here’s how fans reacted on Twitter:

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