India batter Shafali Verma began her Test career with some brilliant performance with the bat after she struck fifties in both the innings as the visitors managed to draw the one-off Test against England in Bristol.
Hailing the youngster’s efforts, captain Mithali Raj lavished praise on Shafali and said that she is going to be a very important player across all formats for the team.
“She will be very, very important to the Indian batting unit in all formats. She beautifully adapted to this format,” Mithali said in a virtual media interaction.
Mithali further appreciated the way Verma stitched her innings. “She didn’t go like how she would go bonkers in the T20 format. She played sensibly against the new ball and it’s great to have her,” Mitahli said.
“She has great range of shots, and she can be very, very, effective in a format like this if she gets going. In no time, we could see that the score would be somewhere else if she gets going,” she added.
Shafali scored 96 in the first innings and was involved in a 167-run partnership for the first wicket with Smriti Mandhana who also notched up 78. But the two batters' departure saw a flurry of wickets and the Indian batting was soon bundled out for 231 and the host enforced a follow-on.
Opener Mandhana got out early in the second innings but Verma scored 63 while Deepti Sharma and Sneh Rana scored fifties and Punam Raut and Taniya Bhatia chipped in with crucial runs as India ended the last day’s play at 344/8 to end the match in a draw.