As per reports in ANI, Indian women cricketer Shafali Verma replaced New Zealand stalwart Sophie Devine For Birmingham Phoenix In The Hundred. In the process, she joins a galaxy of Indian women cricketers who will be playing in the hundred. Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues and Deepti Sharma have also enrolled themselves for the tournament. Speaking to ANI, sources in the know of developments confirmed that Shafali is the fifth Indian player who has been handed a No-Objection Certificate by the BCCI.
“It is a delightful news not just for Shafali but for Indian women’s cricket that there will be five Indian players in the inaugural edition of The Hundred. She will re-unite with her Sydney Sixers coach Ben Sawyer and the experience should help her grow further in what has already been a very positive road forward for the youngster,” the source said.
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The 17-year-old has shown that she loves taking on fresh challenges and speaking after her spectacular showing in the women’s series against South Africa in March, Shafali had revealed how she trained with the Haryana men’s team to improve her game.
Shafali Verma To Play In The Hundred
“The reason behind the fast foot movement is the time I spent with the Haryana men’s team ahead of the Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament. I cannot thank the Haryana Cricket Association enough for allowing me to train with the team. What it did was that it helped my decision-making power at the crease as I was facing fast bowlers who were touching close to the 140kph mark. So, I had that extra second to decide if I wanted to go back or play off the front foot when I played the T20I series,” she told ANI.
The 17-year-old has so far played 22 T20Is and scored 617 runs at a strike-rate of 148.31 and struck three fifties as well. She recently spent time training with Haryana’s men team ahead of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
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