Teen sensation Shafali Verma is set to join India’s T20I skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, Vice-captain Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, and Deepti Sharma in the inaugural edition of The Hundred. The opener will play for Birmingham Phoenix under the captaincy of Kiwi all-rounder Sophie Devine.
The 17-year-old Shafali is the fifth Indian who has been handed a No-Objection Certificate by the BCCI to feature in the inaugural edition of The Hundred. Saurav Ganguly said the perception that BCCI is not promoting women’s cricket is wrong.Â
The youngster has shown that she loves taking on fresh challenges. While speaking after her spectacular showing in the women’s series against South Africa in March, Shafali had revealed she has been training with the Haryana men’s team to improve her game.
Shefali Verma youngest-ever to play T20I cricket for India. She rose to fame during the women’s exhibition match that was played towards the fag end of IPL 2019. She also shone in the Women’s T20 Challenge that happened later in the year and consequently got picked for the National Team in the home T20Is against South Africa. She has played 22 T-20 internationals and has scored 617 runs in the process. She also has three fifties to her name.
The Hundred is a professional franchise 100-ball cricket tournament involving eight men’s and women’s teams located in major cities across England and Wales. The tournament will take place for the first time in summer 2021, having been delayed a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The format was invented to attract younger and more diverse crowds to watch cricket, with the expectation that the shorter format will mean each match lasts around two-and-a-half hours. Various stars of the game are set to take part in this tournament. Ellyse Perry has also signed up for this tournament, while Sarah Taylor comes out of retirement to play in this tournament.