IND W vs ENG W: R Sridhar praises Shafali Verma after Bristol heroics, finds shades of Virender Sehwag
Indian men’s fielding coach R Sridhar heaped rich praise on the 17-year-old opener, Shafali Verma, saying the young batting session reminds of former opener Virender Sehwag. Shafali has taken the cricket fraternity by storm with her twin half-centuries on Test debut against England in the one-off Test in Bristol.
Sridhar further revealed that the whole Indian team whenever they had time off from training have been glued to the Test match and mighty impressed by the Haryana teenager’s pyrotechnics.
“Shafali, so much reminds us of Viru (Virender Sehwag), doesn’t she? The way she plays and her mindset is so clear, so we are enjoying the innings from Shafali. I wish she had got a hundred in the first innings,” Sridhar said at the virtual press conference after the first day of the World Test Championship final against New Zealand was called off due to rain.
“And well played to both Smriti (Mandhana) and Shafali, what a rollicking start they gave us in the first innings and unfortunately, we couldn’t capitalize on that, but great test match going there,” added Sridhar.
In the one-off India women’s Test against England women, debutant Shafali made an impressive 96 in the first essay and has scored an unbeaten 50 in the ongoing second essay after the visitors were enforced a follow-on.
Smriti Mandhana too chipped in with a patient 78, striking 14 boundaries.
The fielding coach also said that the ‘Men in Blue’ are watching the women in action and encouraging the girls.
“We have not missed a bit of the girls’ game right from day one. We have almost seen it, whenever we can except for the times we were out for practise. All of us have seen the game, it has been live going on in our rooms, in our team room, in our breakfast area and even today, when we are (were) for the rain to stop, all of us were sitting together and watching the girl’s game and encouraging our girls,” he said.
