Women’s Asia Cup: Shafali Verma becomes youngest player to reach 1,000 T20I runs

Stylish Indian opening batter Shafali Verma (18 years and 253 days) has become the youngest player to reach 1,000 T20I runs. She broke the previous record held by Jemimah Rodrigues (21 years and 32 days).

The right-handed batter achieved the landmark against Bangladesh Women in the ongoing Women’s Asia Cup on Saturday (October 8).

Verma has so far scored 1,036 runs in 43 T20Is.

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Shafali Verma continues to break records as a teenager

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Shafali Verma continues to break records as a teenager 🙌

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She looked impressive during her knock of 55 off 44 balls, comprising five fours and two sixes. The 18-year-old also shared a 96-run with Smriti Mandhana for the opening wicket.

Shafali Verma has also become the third-fastest Indian women’s cricketer to reach 1,000 T20I runs after former Indian captain Mithali Raj (40 innings) and Rodrigues (41 innings).

The youngster finally found form in her last game against Malaysia Women, wherein she scored 46 runs to overcome a string of low scores.

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Shafali Verma guides India to a victory

An excellent batting performance from Shafali Verma helped the Women in Blue reach 159/5 in 20 overs. Mandhana also contributed 47 runs, while Rodrigues remained unbeaten on 35 off 24 balls.

Rumana Ahmed was the pick of the bowlers for Bangladesh with three scalps.

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.@TheShafaliVerma bags the Player of the Match award for her cracking half-century at the top against Bangladesh. 🏻🏻

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.@TheShafaliVerma bags the Player of the Match award for her cracking half-century at the top against Bangladesh. 👏🏻👏🏻

#TeamIndia | #AsiaCup2022 | #INDvBAN https://t.co/jivVYE5Gsa

In response to the chase, the hosts could only score 100 with a loss of seven wickets, with Nigar Sultana (36) as the top contributor. Deepti Sharma and Verma returned with two wickets each for India.

India women bounced back well after losing to arch-rivals Pakistan by 13 runs on Friday (October 7).

Speaking about the batting performance, Jemimah said:

“The batters have done really well, the outfield is slow. We had a conversation, we had to pick ourselves after yesterday's loss. That's what maturity is all about.”

The Indian team will play their final group fixture against Thailand Women on Monday (October 10).

India Women are the most successful team in the Women’s Asia Cup, winning six out of the seven editions of the tournament. The Women in Blue ended up as runners-up in the last edition of the Asia Cup in 2018.

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