The youngster Shafali Verma gave a powerful start to India’s women cricket team in the opener of ICC Women’s T20 World Cup against Australia which India went on to win. She hit some breathtaking shots against the No.1 T20 bowler Megan Schutt, to earn praise from the cricket fanatics.
Earlier, Australia won the toss and asked India to set the target. From the first ball of the game, the host dominated the field before the 16-year old showed her prowess. She played some crisp strokes during his short stay at the crease. Shafali who gave a decent start to the team scored 29 off just 15 balls with the help of five fours and a six.
But the highlight of Shafali’s innings was when she slammed back-to-back boundaries on the bowling of experienced Megan. She collected 16 runs, hitting the prominent bowler for four fours in the fourth over of India’s innings.
Shafali’s promising innings was however cut short by Ellyse Perry in the sixth over. She mistimed the stroke as it ended up giving a simple catch to a fielder stationed at mid-on.
Meanwhile, India set the target of 133 runs which was well defended by the visitors. The experience of the spinner Poonam Yadav and the remarkable wicketkeeping of Tanya Bhatia led Harmanpreet Kaur’s side to register an interesting victory. Poonam ruled the roost while picking four wickets. She picked the wickets of Alyssa Healy, Rachael Haynes, Ashleigh Gardner and Ellyse Perry.
On the other hand, the wicketkeeper-batter Taniya claimed two catches of Australian skipper Meg Lanning and Jess Jonassen while stumping Rachael Haynes and Annabel Sutherland. She showed her magnificent skills behind the stumps.
Unluckily, she missed the catch of Jonassen and because of which Yadav could not register the hat trick.
However, India’s women cricket team has begun the coveted event on a winning note and the next clash of India will be against Bangladesh on 24th February.