When Shafali Verma broke Sachin Tendulkar’s record

Shafali Verma first came to limelight as a fifteen year old when she struck a brutal 128 off 56 deliveries for Haryana against Nagaland in February 2019 during a women’s domestic T20 match. This was the third highest score in women’s T20 history and earned her a call-up to the Velocity squad for Women’s T20 Challenge in the same year.

A decent show at the Women’s T20 Challenge propelled Shafali to Indian team. The youngster has since gone on to achieve some crazy things while opening the batting for India. The right handed batswoman was ranked World Number 1 in ICC T20I rankings for women and was also the highest run getter for India in the 2020 T20 World Cup. Till date, Shafali has scored 487 runs at a jaw-dropping strike rate of 146.24 in 19 T20Is for India.

But, do you know that Shafali, in her short career, has shattered a record set by Sachin Tendulkar?

In just her fifth international match (or T20I), Shafali became the youngest ever Indian to register an international half century. Aged just 15 years and 285 days then, Shafali scored 73 off 49 deliveries with a strike rate of 148.47 against the West Indies at Darren Sammy National Cricket Stadium to break Tendulkar’s record.

Tendulkar was aged 16 years and 214 days when he scored his maiden international half century in a Test match against Pakistan.

During the course of her innings, Shafali also stitched a 143 runs opening partnership with Smriti Mandhana which is the highest for India in Women’s T20Is. Shafali’s knock comprised of six boundaries and four sixes and powered India to a 84 run victory over the Women in Maroon.

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