2nd T20I: Shafali Verma smashes Katherine Brunt for 5 consecutive fours to complete turnaround

There are many batters who struggle to get the better of a particular bowler at any stage during the course of a series. A dismissal in the first game against a certain player, often witnesses a similar struggle being maintained in the remaining games. However, young India eves opener Shafali Verma is definitely not one of them. Shafali smashed five consecutive boundaries in the fourth over of the first innings in the second T20I against England. The over was bowled by Katherine Brunt, who conceded 21 runs overall in the over. This resulted in 32 runs being conceded over the course of two overs. She had earlier leaked 11 runs in her first over.

Interestingly, Katherine had dismissed Shafali for a duck in the first T20I. The young Indian opener backed away too far outside the leg-stump, with the bowler bowling the perfect slower delivery. The ball pitched and gripped enough to smack the top of leg stump. Shafali was left in no position to negotiate the lack of pace. The young Indian opener’s exploits in the second T20I marked the perfect turnaround. Shafali was eventually dismissed for 48 runs off 38 deliveries, in an innings comprising of eight boundaries and a six.

Sixth dismissal in the 40s in T20Is

The young Indian opener has now been dismissed in the 40s for the sixth time in T20Is. The first instance was recorded in a clash against South Africa back in 2019, where she scored 46. This was followed by scores of 46, 47 and 49 in games against New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Australia respectively in 2020. 2021 further witnessed a dismissal for 47 in a T20I encounter against South Africa. The same is barring today’s dismissal for 48 against England.

Shafali recently made her Test and ODI debuts during the tour of England, with Mithali Raj hailing her performances.

“She will be very, very important to the Indian batting unit in all formats, having beautifully adapted to this format. Shafali didn’t go like how she would go bonkers in the T20 format, playing sensibly against the new ball and it’s great to have her. She has a great range of shots, and can be very, very, effective in a format like this if she gets going. In no time, we could see that the score would be somewhere else if she gets going,” said Mithali.

“Shafali is on everyone’s list, no doubt”

The opener is also expected to be seen in action in the upcoming edition of the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL).

“(Shafali Verma) is on everyone’s list, no doubt. She loves Australian conditions, we saw that in the T20 World Cup. Each club will have some vacancies and (there may be) an Indian player there that could fit that role. I’m sure that they’re picking up the phone and making those calls. It helps that they’re in the country and they’ve already done the two weeks’ quarantine,” said Sydney Sixers list manager Lisa Sthalekar, as quoted by Cricket Australia.

It will be interesting to see if she can maintain a similar impact in the T20 league as well.