Supremely talented 17-year-old should make the BCCI realise how big the women’s game could be
Just as more people saw Jim Laker whistle out 19 for 90 at Old Trafford and Ian Botham bristle 149 at Headingley than could possibly have fitted in the ground even stacked cheek to jowl and on top of each other, you suspect Bristol County Ground will have been rather fuller in retrospect than it was last week. Not because it was the first time India had played a Test for seven years or because of the cricket itself, which was excellent, but because of the Test debut of a 17-year-old superstar in the making.
Shafali Verma made 96 and 63 and was named player of the match. But it wasn’t just the numbers. It was the poise, the power, the audacity. The simple dismissal of the bad ball. The delicacy of the glide down to third man. The big, booming straight drives. The steady forward defensive with the high, high elbow. The teenage impetuosity of going for the big shot when on 96 and the sighing disappointment of the spectators, whose instinct for the home side was temporarily beaten by their empathy.
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