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Shafali Verma was at her destructive best in the ongoing Women's T20 Challenger Trophy 2022. Shafali smashed unbeaten 91 off just 52 balls to guide India Women B to an easy nine-wicket victory over India Women A with 35 deliveries left to spare. Shafali has been struggling of late but she did not hold back his natural game and thrashed India Women A bowlers at Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium, Raipur.
The Indian opener scored nearly 80 per cent of her team's runs. The 18-year-old's unbeaten 91-run knock was studded with 11 fours and four sixes. She batted with a strike rate of 175. This was her personal best score in T20 cricket. Her personal best in T20Is is 73.
In the run chase of 111, India Women B lost their opener Dhara Gujjar (8) in the powerplay overs. Skipper Deepti Sharma came out to bat at no.3. Meanwhile, Shafali got to her half-century from just 28 deliveries.
Deepti did not score a single boundary in her 22-ball 13. The southpaw played second fiddle in the unbeaten 77-run partnership for the second wicket.
This was a much-needed knock for Shafali as her dip in form may have led the team management to look for other options. In few games, they tried Sabbhineni Meghana as well. In the previous game, she got bowled by Shikha Pandey for a single-digit score.
While Deepti did not make much of an impact with the bat, she registered the best bowling figures in the history of Women's T20 Challenger Trophy. She took four wickets and conceded just 15 runs in her quote of four overs. She broke Sushree Dibyadarshi's 2018 record. Dibyadarshini took four wickets for 19 runs.
Earlier India Women A skipper Poonam Yadav won the toss and opted to bat first. After the early wicket of Nuzhat Parween, Shivali Shinde and Amanjot Kaur shared a 37-run partnership. Shinde (22) got out after playing herself in. Harleen Deol missed a chance to score big as she got run out by Suman Meena. Wickets kept falling at the other end as Amanjot played the anchor role. She missed her half-century by just one run and got run out in the final over. As no other batter could score in double digits, India Women A got all out for 110 in 20 overs.
