Shafali Verma's debut for the Indian women's cricket team might not have got off to a perfect start, but the 15-year-old Haryana girl will be raring to make amends next time she walks out to bat.
She fell for a duck in the first T20I against South Africa Women, at Surat, today.
She lasted four balls, before falling to a stunning catch at mid-on while trying to hit across the line.
Shafali is the second youngest Indian cricketer, after Gargi Banerji (14 years and 165 days). Banerji played her first ODI against England in 1978 and the first Test against Australia in 1984. She represented India in 12 Tests and 26 ODIs.
A little over five feet tall, Shafali was chosen following her good performances in the Women's T20 challenge earlier and at the age-group level this year. The diminutive Haryana girl played under veteran Mithali Raj for Team Velocity in the women's T20 challenge which was held during the IPL earlier this year.
Raj resigned from T20 cricket earlier this month.
A self-confessed fan of Sachin Tendulkar, Shafali took to cricket at eight. In fact, it was Tendulkar's last Ranji Trophy match in Rohtak, which she went to watch, that inspired her to take up cricket seriously.
She would train with her father and brother and other boys. Her big-hitting skills got her selected for Haryana’s U-19 team in 2016, when she was just 13. Shafali has a strike rate of 150-plus in the U-19 and U-23 category domestic events.
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In February this year, the youngster scored 128 off 56 balls—the third highest score in women's T20—for Haryana against Nagaland in the Indian Senior T20 league.
Besides effectively wielding the willow, she also bowls off-breaks.
England's illustrious cricketer Danielle Wyatt has also praised the talented Shafali, calling her a "superstar" in the making. “She is going to be a superstar for India probably in a year or so, I think she will break into the Indian team,” Wyatt, who was part of England’s 2017 World Cup-winning team, had said after watching her bat in the nets.
And, as for the duck on debut, Shafali can take heart from the fact that her role model Tendulkar, too, scored a duck on his debut—in an ODI against Pakistan in 1989.
(With PTI inputs)
