Shafali Verma continued her strong form in the ongoing T20I series against Sri Lanka. The dashing opener followed up her brisk fifty in the second T20I with a faster half-century in the third T20I, putting India on track for a comfortable series win. During the course of her blistering knock, Verma created a new world record.
The fifty against Sri Lanka was Verma's 13th in T20Is, the most by any cricketer before the age of 22. Verma went past Lucy Barnett of Isle of Man who has 12 T20I fifties to her name. Barnett is also the fastest to 1000 T20I runs in the women's game. Getting past her landmark is a huge achievement for Verma who also added another unique milestone through her knock.
Verma became only the second Indian to smash a fifty inside the powerplay of a T20I innings, the first being her opening partner Smriti Mandhana. The experienced batter fell cheaply today, to the off-spin of Kavisha Dilhari, in the fourth over of the innings but Verma was unstoppable. The young opener set the tone in the very first over of the chase.
Malsha Shehani started the innings with three dots in a row but Verma ended the over with a six and two fours to make it 14 off that over. She ended the powerplay with eight fours and two sixes, and got to the fifty off the final ball of the six-over mark to get her name into the record books.
Verma batted through to end on a 42-ball 79*, mirroring her efforts from the second T20I when she ended on 69*(34). With just 113 to chase, India rode on another Verma masterclass to seal the game with 40 balls to spare, thereby wrapping up the series.
