Shafali Verma can dominate all three formats of the game after the teenage opener's fairytale Test debut in England.
Australia A bowlers, led by pace-bowling stalwart Kim Garth, wreaked havoc as India A suffered a demoralising 114-run defeat in the second unofficial T20I in Mackay as the hosts took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.
Hard-hitting opener Shafali Verma, who made a comeback to the national side recently, has revealed that she watched videos of Sachin Tendulkar's Test knocks to keep herself motivated when she was ignored by the selectors.
Shafali Verma claimed a hat-trick for Haryana against Karnataka in the pre-quarterfinal of the Women's Under-23 One-Day Trophy in Guwahati.
Fine half-centuries by Yastika Bhatia, Radha Yadav and Tanuja Kanwar propelled India A to a thrilling series-clinching two-wicket victory over Australia A, after Alyssa Healy's brilliant knock set the bar high for the visitors, in the second women's one-dayer, in Brisbane, on Friday.
India's teen sensation Shafali Verma moved up a rung to regain her position at the top of the ICC Women's T20I rankings for batters while her opening partner Smriti Mandhana dropped a spot to fourth.
The opener has played a couple of Tests, six ODIs and 28 T20 Internationals since making her debut
India took an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match series, with the final game scheduled to be played in Birmingham on Saturday.
Gujarat Giants, on the other hand, have been heavily reliant on Australian all-rounder Ashleigh Gardner, who has been their standout performer.
India eye maiden women's T20I series win over England; hosts to miss injured skipper Brunt
India's batting faltered at the death as England held their nerves to pull off a narrow five-run win in a thrilling third women's T20 International on Friday.
Shafali Verma and Jess Jonassen smashed half-centuries as Delhi Capitals handed Royal Challengers Bengaluru a fourth consecutive defeat with a commanding nine-wicket win.
Powered by the all-round brilliance of Nat Sciver-Brunt and Hayley Matthews, Mumbai Indians head into the Women's Premier League final as favorites to claim their second title, while Delhi Capitals hope to break their title jinx in what promises to be a thrilling showdown in Mumbai on Saturday.
India women's team captain Harmanpreet Kaur, her deputy Smriti Mandhana and all-rounder Deepti Sharma were retained in Grade A, the highest category of central contracts offered by BCCI.
Mandhana happy to score a ton in a format that 'is not a natural format for me.'
Shafali Verma has leapfrogged Australia's Beth Mooney with scores of 23 and 47.
Defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru will be determined to give their home fans a parting victory when they take on a fatigued Delhi Capitals in Bengaluru on Saturday, before the Women's Premier League moves to Lucknow for its third leg.
Delhi Capitals opener Shafali Verma has credited the Women's Premier League (WPL) for helping her learn how to build her innings.
Shafali Verma (44) and Jess Jonassen's (61 not out) fireworks underlined Delhi Capitals' complete domination as they crushed Gujarat Giants by six wickets.
Delhi Capitals produced a splendid bowling effort before their batters, led by Niki Prasad, survived some anxious moments to register a narrow two-wicket win over Mumbai Indians in a last-ball thriller in the Women's Premier League
Smriti Mandhana smashed a blistering 47-ball 81 to power reigning champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru to a resounding eight-wicket victory over Delhi Capitals
India's Smriti Mandhana and Deepti Sharma have retained their third positions in the latest ICC Women's T20I batter and bowlers' rankings respectively, released on Tuesday.
Shafali Verma, the young Indian opener, stole the show on the opening day of the one-off women's Test against South Africa, smashing a record-breaking double century.
The inaugural edition's winner Mumbai Indians will bank on their core group of players while two-time finalists Delhi Capitals will expect fireworks from Shafali Verma when they face-off in the second game of the Women's Premier League here on Saturday. The finalists of the first WPL in 2023, both Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals made it to the knockouts in the second edition last year but lost to the eventual champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the eliminator and the final respectively. Those defeats were certainly not reflective of how well MI and DC had fared until the knockouts stage, with Harmanpreet Kaur's side finishing second in the points table with five wins in eight matches and Meg Lanning's team topping it with six wins in as many outings. The winners of WPL 2023, Mumbai Indians tend to lean on their core group of players both overseas and Indian and a similar approach can be expected this year, with only a few changes taking place in terms of squad composition. India pacer Pooja Vastrakar, who was grappling with an unspecified injury, was ruled out of the competition and has been replaced by slow left-arm orthodox bowler Parunika Sisodia, who was one of the main performers in India's title-winning campaign in the U-19 Women's T20 World Cup recently. Mumbai Indians have let go of England's Issy Wong, who took the first-ever WPL hat-trick in 2023, after the player lost form and the franchise found the leader of their attack in South Africa's Shabnim Ismail. Among domestic talents, another member of the U-19 T20 World Cup winning squad G Kamalini would be one to watch out for, having finished as the third highest scorer in the competition with 143 runs in seven matches. Apart from a strong leader in Harmanpreet, MI have strong figures from other international sides such as Nat Sciver-Brunt (England), Hayley Matthews (West Indies), Amelia Kerr (New Zealand), as well as South Africans Nadine de Klerk, Shabnim Ismail and Chloe Tryon. While Yastika Bhatia is MI's No 1 wicketkeeper-batter, other Indian players in Saika Ishaque, Sajana Sajeevan, uncapped Akshita Maheshwari and Amanjot Kaur will be expected to play their roles to perfection. On their part, Delhi Capitals will be keen to do one better after finishing as runner-up for two times in a row ever since the competition began. One of the most consistent teams in the competition, the Lanning-led Delhi have strong talent base across departments but the key will be to deliver in crucial matches. All eyes will be on the explosive Indian batter Shafali who has responded to her exclusion from the Indian side with runs in domestic cricket. She forms a lethal opening pair with Lanning at the top, while the likes of Australia's Annabel Sutherland, England's Alice Capsey and India's Jemimah Rodrigues form the core of their middle order. All-rounder Sutherland will hope to draw inspiration from her recent success of having struck 163 in the only Test of the women's Ashes followed by winning the highest individual honour in Australian cricket. While Delhi boasts of three wicketkeeper-batters in India's Taniyaa Bhatia, Nandini Kashyap and Scotland's Sarah Bryce, their bowling looks settled with Marizanne Kapp as the leader of the attack, backed by Australia's Jess Jonassen, India's Radha Yadav and Shikha Pandey as well as Titas Sadhu.
Rohit Sharma's poor run of form has not allowed Mumbai Indians to set the tone in the Indian Premier League ((IPL) so far, believes former Indian women's captain Anjum Chopra.
Shafali Verma, dropped from the India ODI squad, has the full backing of skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, who is eager to see the aggressive opener back in her "zone"
Shafali revealed how training with the Haryana men's team ahead of the Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament helped her improve her game
Indian opener Shafali Verma rewrote history books today, smashing the fastest double century in women's Test cricket.
Mumbai Indians head coach Charlotte Edwards said the early wickets of Delhi Capitals skipper Meg Lanning and opener Shafali Verma helped her team win the Women's Premier League final in Mumbai on Saturday.
Delhi Capitals will be aiming to claim the top spot, while UP Warriorz will be desperate to register their first victory of the season when the two sides face off in the Women's Premier League in Bengaluru on Saturday.
Needing 16 off two overs, Kashvee Gautam struck Shikha Pandey for a six off the last ball to bring down the equation to seven runs in the last over.
Images from the Women's T20 World Cup match between India and Sri Lanka in Dubai on Wednesday.
Smriti Mandhana, Ellyse Perry, Shafali Verma, Meg Lanning and Harmanpreet Kaur were some of the big names retained by their respective franchises for the next edition of the Women's Premier League.
West Indies' Chinelle Henry smashed a 23-ball 62, including eight sixes and two fours, to equal the record for the fastest fifty in the Women's Premier League.
Delhi Capitals dished out an all-round effort to comfortably beat former champions Mumbai Indians by nine wickets
India opener Shafali admitted that Sri Lanka are no longer only dependent on their skipper Chamarai Athapaththu.
India surpassed that mark when Richa Ghosh hammered a four in the first ball of the 109th over bowled by Annerie Dercksen.
Relentless accuracy by the bowlers, led by Radha Yadav, drove India to a comfortable 59-run victory over New Zealand in the first women's ODI in Ahmedabad on Thursday.
Harmanpreet Kaur's quickfire fifty and Nat Sciver-Brunt's fine all-round showing lifted Mumbai Indians to their second Women's Premier League title.
Shafali Verma emerged from a recent slump in batting form with a bang, smashing a record-breaking 205 against South Africa on the opening day of the one-off Test
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