The Hundred: Shafali Verma to miss Birmingham Phoenix's eliminator

India’s young sensation Shafali Verma was up with the Birmingham Phoenix in the women’s Hundred but had returned to India and will miss the team’s eliminator. Verma will be missing Phoenix’s eliminator against Oval Invincibles after returning to her homeland ahead of the series against Australia. India’s women’s team players gathered in Bangalore on 17th August 2021 for their pre-tour camp and are currently undergoing mandatory quarantine.

All those who are part of The Hundred will also be joining this camp. Talking about Verma, she arrived in the UK in the early parts of June and then impressed big time during India’s series against England across formats. She was playing for Phoenix since mid-July. Smriti Mandhana is another Indian player who left The Hundred midway to spend time with her family ahead of a busy international schedule.

Verma had a hot and cold form in the competition where she went over the score of 25 just once but her valiant knock of 76 off 42 balls led her team to rise over Welsh Fire. It also started their winning run which landed them in the knockout stages. At the time of leaving her team, she added that she really enjoyed her stint in the Hundred while making a lot of memories.

I had friendships and memories in the Hundred that will last forever: Shafali Verma

“I really enjoyed playing with this great group of people in the Hundred. Friendships and memories that will last forever. Best of luck for the remainder of the tournament,” said Verma in one of her Instagram posts.

“Obviously Shafali was hitting her straps and we saw how dangerous she is against Welsh Fire so she is a big loss for us. But we’re very lucky in that the girls who have been running the drinks in Marie Kelly, Thea [Brookes], and Ria [Fackrell] are all very powerful hitters and are quality cricketers. They’ve been very unlucky not to get a game, to be honest. They’re definitely good enough to be playing in the tournament,” said Amy Jones Birmingham Phoenix’s captain.