NEWS
Follow UsIndia's teenage sensation Shafali Verma is set to feature in the inaugural edition of The Hundred for Birmingham Phoenix side, Women's Criczone reported. Verma will be replacing New Zealand all-rounder Sophie Devine.
"Shafali was approached by Birmingham franchise and the deal is about to be closed. She will be replacing New Zealand's Sophie Devine in the team," a BCCI source told PTI.
"She is also in talks with the Sydney franchise to play in the women's Big Bash," the source added.
The 17-year old will be the fifth Indian to feature in the 10-overs a side tournament after BCCI handed No Objection Certificate (NOC) to opener Smriti Mandhana, India’s T20I skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, Jemimah Rodrigues, and Deepti Sharma. It will also be Verma's first time playing in an overseas franchise league, where she will have the likes of Australian all-rounders Ellyse Perry and Ashleigh Gardner as her teammates.
Phoenix, who earlier named Devine as their captain, will have to look for a new skipper after the Kiwi all-rounder pulled out of the tournament.
Verma, who became the youngest Indian to play T20Is at the age of 15, has played 22 T20Is scoring 617 runs at an average of 29.38 and a strike rate of 148.31.
The Indian players are expected to assemble towards the end of May for their tour of England, where they will play a Test match, three ODIs and three T20Is from June 16 to July 15.
In another development in women's cricket, the head coach of Indian team will be picked this week by the Madan Lal-led Cricket Advisory Committee.
As many as 35 applicants, including incumbent W V Raman and five female coaches, have applied for the post.
"CAC has received the communication regarding the same and the coach will be selected this week," a source said.
Former chief selector Hemlata Kala, Mamatha Maben, Jaya Sharma, Suman Sharma and Nooshin Al Khadeer are five female candidates, while former coaches Ramesh Powar and Tushar Arothe have also applied for the post.
