About Shafali Verma:
Name: Shafali Verma
DOB: January 28, 2004
Bowling style: Right arm off break
Batting style: Right-hand bat
Place of Birth: India
Role: Batter
Teams- Birmingham women, Delhi Capitals, Haryana women, India A women, India Women, Sydney Sixers Women, Velocity
Bio:
Breaking into the team at the age of 15, Shafali Verma became the youngest ever to play T20I cricket for India. Many might not know that Shafali played cricket disguised as a boy due to the lack of girls’ cricket academies in Rohtak during her initial years. The young Indian opener is also a huge fan of AB de Villiers.
A fearless opening batter whose sole mantra is to hit the cricket ball as hard as she can, Shafali played her first international match for India against South Africa in T20 in 2019. In the same year, against the West Indies, she became the youngest half-centurion for India in international cricket. Shafali’s biggest strength has been her fearless approach to the game, which is reminiscent of Virender Sehwag.
In 2021, Shafali became the youngest Indian cricketer—male or female—to represent the nation in all three formats of the game. She was named the ICC Women’s Player of the Month in January 2021 and was part of the ICC Women’s T20I Team of the Year in 2021. On her Test debut, she showcased that she isn’t just a T20 specialist by scoring a typically entertaining 96 (152) in her maiden Test innings, followed by another 50+ score in the second innings. In October 2022, Verma became the youngest player to score 1,000 T20 runs in women’s cricket. In January 2023, she led the U19 team to World Cup glory in the inaugural Women’s U19 event. In the 2023 Women’s Premier League auction, she was acquired by the Delhi Capitals for Rs 2 crore. In her first match against Royal Challengers Bangalore, she scored her maiden fifty, amassing 84 runs in just 45 balls. She holds the record for the fastest fifty by an Indian in WPL history (50 off 19 balls).
With over 100 appearances and more than 2,500 runs across formats, the swashbuckling Indian opener could be the perfect successor to Smriti Mandhana.