After India Snub, Shafali Verma Slams 197 to Prove Selectors Wron

At the Niranjan Shah Stadium Ground C in Rajkot, young Indian batswoman Shafali Verma, who is now leading Haryana in the 2024 Senior Women's One-Day Trophy, hammered 197 runs in the fourth quarterfinal match against Bengal. Bengal made history despite her efforts when they chased down 390 with five balls remaining and five wickets in hand, the most successful chase in women's List A cricket history. Following a run of subpar performances for the India women's cricket team, the standout hitter was recently dropped from the senior squad.

The 20-year-old opener created a solid opening combination of 173 runs with Reema Sisodia (58 off 72) after being summoned to bat. She hit 22 fours and 11 sixes. Haryana reached 389/5 thanks to her knock. Sonia Mendhiya (61) and Triveni Vasistha (46) both made significant contributions to the score, which gave their bowlers a formidable target to defend. T Sarkar was the best bowler for Bengal, taking three wickets. Shafali was hammering bowlers all over the place then Mita Paul took his wickets.

Shafali Verma proves herself worthy to India: 

Haryana Captain Shafali Verma missed her Double Century by just 3 runs 😯#CricketTwitter pic.twitter.com/FHnOGWi5IT

— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) December 23, 2024

This was Shafali's second century in the competition, bringing her total to 527 runs at a strike rate of 152.31 and an average of 75.28 in seven games. She is currently attempting to regain her spot in the Indian squad, and her outstanding domestic cricket performance coincides with this. Harmanpreet Kaur, the Indian captain, had stated a few weeks earlier how important Shafali was to India's strategy.

The 119 group-stage matches of the current competition were played in Delhi, Kolkata, Chandigarh, Rohtak, Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Gurugram, and Jhajjar. December 30 is the date of the grand finale. Earlier this year, in October, Shafali played her final international match against New Zealand, scoring a meagre 56 runs in three ODI appearances. In the current ODI series against the West Indies, when the Harmanpreet Kaur-led team won the opening match to take a 1-0 lead in a three-match ODI series, she was dropped, and the star batsman was also left out. 

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