Fifteen-year-old Shafali Verma’s stature as one of India’s brightest young stars took another steep upward turn on Thursday when she cracked a breathtaking 124 runs from just 78 deliveries for India A against Australia A.
Her knock was laced with 19 fours and four sixes. Verma’s efforts were backed up by her captain Veda Krishnamurthy, who also got to a century to set up their side’s 16-run win.
With the knock, Verma’s rise since the T20 Challenger earlier this year has made the cricket world sit up and take notice continues unabated. She scored two half-centuries in her trademark style against West Indies in the space of 24 hours, comfortably overshadowing Smriti Mandhana on both occasions. The Rohtak-born opener was awarded the Player of the Series for her performances.
In the process, Verma also became the youngest Indian batter to score an international half-century, going the legendary Sachin Tendulkar’s record. The Twitter world also took notice of the quality of the Australia A bowling attack, which included the likes of Molly Strano, who was the Women’s Big Bash League’s highest wicket-taker.
👇🏽 hard not to get a little excited about the introduction of Shafali Verma to international cricket. The start of ..... https://t.co/eI0FT42MjD
— Mel 'MJ' Jones (@meljones_33) December 12, 2019
As we celebrate @imVkohli @ImRo45 and @klrahul11 please just look at what the teenage sensation Shafali Verma just did against Aus A. This girl @SGanguly99 is exceptional and has every season to make @BCCIWomen shine big in the World Cup. 124 of 78 balls, wow!
— #World #Cricket #Update (@WoRldCricUpDate) December 12, 2019
Can #ShafaliVerma scale the peaks for Women's cricket, that @sachin_rt did for men. I think so. It's quite possible we have a superstar in the making
— BloggerDan (@DanBlogger) December 12, 2019
While there was a batting carnage by men at wankhede in a T20 match. Back in tests a girl named Shefali Verma scored a staggering 124 of 78 balls against AUS A team with (4X19, 6X4). #BCCIW
— PRO-crastinator (@gotcrashed) December 12, 2019
Super win for the IND A women against a quality Australia side, most feature in the BBL and few capped players too. With responsibility @vedakmurthy08 gets better and great ton from Shafali as well. Great start with a bang onto many more victories👏
— Reema Malhotra (@ReemaMalhotra8) December 12, 2019
Pic source: @WomensCricZone pic.twitter.com/CtQJXwAZSZ
@WomensCricZone congrats to Shefali Verma for the First First Class Hundred 124(78). 15Y Old Smashing Australian Bowlers all over the Ground on their soil. Next #WBBL Look out for her!! #ShefaliVerma
— Suneel 🇮🇳 🧢 (@SuneelParmar3) December 12, 2019
Making an international debut at 15 speaks volumes of her talent. She is definitely going to be one of the best in the coming times. The journey has already begun! #shafaliverma @BoriaMajumdar https://t.co/NlsIymHEI7
— Anurag Mallick (@anuragmallick51) December 12, 2019
What an Innings from Young 16 year old Shefali Verma 🔥🔥
— VKLassy 🔥🎵🎶 (@KLViratian_1997) December 12, 2019
And Not to foget a breathtaking hundred scored by Veda Krishnamurthy 👏👏
#AUSAvINDA
As we celebrate @imVkohli @ImRo45 and @klrahul11 please just look at what the teenage sensation Shafali Verma just did against Aus A. This girl @SGanguly99 is exceptional and has every season to make @BCCIWomen shine big in the World Cup. 124 of 78 balls, wow!
— 🇮🇳 JEEVESH MISHRA 🇮🇳 (@JEEVESH1097) December 12, 2019
Fifteen-year-old Shafali Verma has scored 124 runs off 78 balls in the #AUSAvINDA one-day series opener.
— Gopal (@gopal2709) December 12, 2019
All bowlers she faced today, have the experience of multiple #WBBL seasons under their belt. Some of them have even played for Australia.
Fifteen-year-old Shafali Verma has scored 124 runs off 78 balls in the #AUSAvINDA one-day series opener.
— Annesha Ghosh (@ghosh_annesha) December 12, 2019
All bowlers she faced today, I repeat, *all bowlers* have the experience of multiple #WBBL seasons under their belt. Some of them have even played for Australia.
The bowlers Shafali Verma faced today, and where they finished in terms of most wickets in the WBBL this season:
— hypocaust (@_hypocaust) December 12, 2019
Strano (1st), Vakarewa (3rd), Johnson (6th), Wellington (=8th), Brown (=8th), Graham (11th), McGrath (15th). https://t.co/fdtke8MUDV