New Delhi: Indian women’s young star Shafali Verma scored a fantastic half-century for India A against Australia A in the one-off unofficial Test match between the two sides at the Allan Border Field in Brisbane on Saturday. Earlier this month, selectors ignored Verma from India’s 15-woman squad for the ICC Women’s World Cup 2025 at home.
The third day started with Australia A resuming their innings from 158/5 and managing to score 305 runs in their first innings. They also took a six-run lead after the first innings. Shafali opened the batting for India A with wicket-keeper Nandini Kashyap and added a crucial 42-run opening partnership, where the majority of runs were scored by her at a high pace.
The 21-year-old batter made a decent partnership with Dhara Gujjar and Tejal Hasabnis for the second and third wickets, respectively. She scored a half-century in just 55 balls, but after three balls, Shafali was dismissed by Amy Edgar after playing a brilliant knock of 52 runs.
Raghvi Bisht scored 86 runs and held one end comfortably to drive India to 260/8 at the end of Day 3’s play. India still have two wickets left at the end of Day 3.
From the Australian side, Edgar (4/53) bowled beautifully and now has the opportunity to take a five-fer in the second innings. In the first innings, Sianna Ginger scored a magnificent century at number seven position as she made 103 runs in 138 balls.
Shafali Verma drops from World Cup squad
Shafali was the most notable exclusion from the Indian squad for the ICC World Cup 2025 in India and Sri Lanka. Since her debut at the age of 16, she has been a regular batter for India across all formats, but the dip in her form over the last few months led to her exclusion from the squad.
The 21-year-old batter averages just 23 in her ODI career and lost her spot to Pratika Rawal, who has so far capitalised on every opportunity in her brief ODI career as she averages 54 in the fifty-over format and has formed a reliable opening pair with Smriti Mandhana in the top order.