India’s young prodigy Shafali Verma is all set to play for Birmingham Phoenix in the inaugural edition of The Hundred. She has been roped in as a replacement to New Zealand’s Sophie Devine, who earlier pulled out of the tournament. Verma will join Australia’s Ellyse Perry and Ashleigh Gardner in Birmingham’s overseas contingency.
As per ANI, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has already issued a No-Objection Certificate to England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) regarding her participation.
Shafali will become the fifth Indian to feature in this much-awaited tournament. The BCCI has already granted approval to Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur, Jemimah Rodrigues and Deepti Sharma.
Now only 17, Verma made international debut in 2019, and has emerged as the most fearsome striker of the ball. Having played 22 T20Is, She has amassed 617 runs at a strike rate of 148.31.
Her last appearance for Team India came in a three-match T20I series against South Africa. She was the leading run-getter of the series, amassing 130 runs at a terrific strike rate of 156.63 and also regained the top spot in ICC T20I rankings for batters.
Verma recently spent valuable time with the Haryana men’s side to improve her foot movement and reaction time. She remarked that facing pacers operating around the 140kph mark helped her in decision-making, whether to go forward or stay at the crease.