Shafali Verma Watch out for this youngster!

An international newspaper referred to Shafali as a ‘tomboy’. If she is actually one, then there is every reason for her to be one! Brought up in a state which is notorious for its alarming female ratio and where girls are seldom encouraged to participate in outdoor games, Shafali had to be passed off as a boy to start her cricketing career.

- GP CAPT ACHCHyUT kUMAR

Here is a quiz question for all the cricket buffs. Who is India’s youngest cricketer to score an international half-century? Give up. Well, here is a small hint — the name of the cricketer starts with the letter ‘S’.

Most of you may have guessed it as Sachin Tendulkar and if you have done so, let me put it right and straight; you guessed it all wrong! The correct name is that of a woman cricketer or perhaps more correctly a girl cricketer named Shafali Verma.

Sachin Tendulkar was 16 years and 216 days when he became the youngest Indian cricketer to score an international half-century on scoring 59 runs in a Test match against Pakistan in 1989. Thirty years later, Shafali Verma improved the record on two counts; she was only 15 years and 285 days when she scored 73 runs against the West Indies. She fell short by just 18 days in touching the international record of UAE’s Kavisha Egodage who was 15 years and 267 days when she had scored an unbeaten 57 against Malaysia in January 2019.