India star player Shafali Verma guided India to victory in the Asia Cup match against Bangladesh on Saturday. The 18-year-old performed brilliantly with the bat as well as the ball.
Player-of-the-match Shafali, who also had career-best bowling figures of 2/10, showed her match-winning prowess with an attractive 55 off 44 balls.
She showed why she is one of the most destructive batters in this format as she struck five fours and two huge sixes. En route to her fourth half-century in T20Is, Shafali also completed 1000 runs in the format and became the youngest batter to reach the milestone.
Following are the top four youngest players to score 1000+ runs in T20Is:
- Shafali Verma - 18 years 253 days
- Jemimah Rodrigues - 21 years 32 days
- Gaby Lewis - 21 years 68 days
- Stafanie Taylor - 21 years 111 days
Speaking about the comprehensive 59-run victory, Shafali admitted that the pitch was not conducive for stroke play.
"I am always ready to give my best for the team. It was a bit difficult pitch for batting as the ball kept low. I have put in a lot of hard work and want to thank my family and friends for their support.
"We are very happy with our performance, everyone played really well," she said.
The stand-in captain Smriti Mandhana also praised Shafali after the match.
"It was disappointing in the last match (versus Pakistan). It's good to come back after that loss, really proud of the girls. Today it was a total team performance," Mandhana said.
"Shafali batted well, and also Jemimah played well. We could have scored 10 runs more while batting. Our bowlers bowled really well," she added.
India, now with four wins out of five games, are through to the semifinals of the continental event.
