Watch: Shafali Verma announces herself in the BBL with a spectacular direct hit

Shafali Verma announced herself in the Big Bash League with a stunning direct-hit in the opening game of the Women’s Big Bash League between Sydney Sixers and Melbourne Stars. Batting first, the Stars had the responsibility of setting a target in a rain-marred encounter. The opener induced the only dismissal in the Stars’ innings, who […]
 

Shafali Verma announced herself in the Big Bash League with a stunning direct-hit in the opening game of the Women’s Big Bash League between Sydney Sixers and Melbourne Stars. Batting first, the Stars had the responsibility of setting a target in a rain-marred encounter. The opener induced the only dismissal in the Stars’ innings, who scored 99 runs for the loss of 1 wicket in their 11 overs.

In the fifth over of the game, having already grabbed two boundaries, Elyse Villani tried to knock a single around. There was slight misjudgement in the run and an opportunity opened up for Shafali Verma to throw at the non-striker’s end. She hit the bullseye despite having just one stump to aim at, dismissing Annabel Sutherland, who was miles behind.

Shafali Verma did not have the most impressive of debuts despite churning out this moment of magic. She came out to open alongside Alyssa Healy for the women in pink and struggled to provide a quickfire start in the run chase. She smashed one boundary but was dismissed early on in the innings for just 8 runs off 10 balls.

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As it turns out, it was Sutherland who got her revenge against the Indian 17-year-old. She knocked over Shafali’s stumps and provided a crucial early breakthrough for the Stars. Although she is off to a disappointing start, the young cricketer has shown a lot of promise in recent months and will be a pivotal figure in Sixers’ ambitions to all the way.

Here’s the dismissal that introduced Shafali Verma to the WBBL world.

The game was reduced to an 11-over per side affair because of rain, and the Melbourne Stars Women registered 99 runs for the loss of 1 wicket. Elyse Villani chipped in with a 31-ball 54 and remained unbeaten alongside Meg Lanning, who anchored with a 17-ball 23.

Although the Sixers Women lost plenty of wickets in an attempt to up the ante, Alyssa Healy kept their ship sailing. Her 27-ball 57 turned out to be enough for the side and despite getting dismissed in the 9th over, the job was nearly done by then. Sixers won the game 6 wickets.