Women's Test Day Three: Shafali Verma on song!

India opener Shafali Verma in full flight against England at Bristol yesterday. Pic/Getty Images

Debutant Shafali Verma became only the fourth player - and the youngest one - in the history of women's cricket to hit consecutive half centuries on debut as she took India to 83 for one in their second innings before rain forced an early stumps on Day Three of the one-off Test against England here on Friday.

Shafali, 17, was batting on 55 off 68 balls at the tea break after India were forced to follow on. She hit 11 boundaries so far in her knock. Another debutant Deepti Sharma, who was promoted to No. 3 after her resolute 29 not out in India's first innings, was giving Shafali company at the crease on 18 not out.

The duo defied the England bowlers for 20 overs and added 54 runs in the post-lunch session when tea was called due to rain. The post-lunch session itself started 30 minutes late due to rain. England toiled hard for the whole second session without any success.

The other opener

Smriti Mandhana was dismissed in the morning session for eight. India are still trailing by 82 runs with nine wickets in hand in the four-day match. Shafali, who had hit 96 in her first innings, continued her impressive form as she hit six more boundaries in the second session. Earlier, India were left with a mountain to climb after being shot out for 231 in their first innings, half an hour before lunch. After a dramatic collapse on the second day on Thursday, India's batting woes continued as they lost five wickets for the addition of just 44 runs in 21.2 overs in the morning session, undoing the tremendous effort by Shafali (96) and Mandhana (78).

‘Will always regret missing century on debut'

She would "always regret" missing the hundred in a memorable Test debut but India's teenage batting sensation Shafali Verma says her 96-run knock in the ongoing one-off game against England has also given her confidence to aim higher the next time. "It's always natural to feel bad to miss out on a hundred [on debut]. I will always regret it, but this innings will give me a lot of confidence in the coming matches. I hope to convert it to a hundred the next time," the Indian opener said.

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever