India’s Youngest Female T20 International Debutant Player Had Trained as a Boy!
Shafali Verma was only a child when she went to watch Sachin Tendulkar play and had chanted ‘Sachin, Sachin’ on her father’s shoulders. She was very impressed by the cricketing legend and began to nurture a dream of becoming a cricketer and playing for India. Her father, Sanjeev Verma wholeheartedly supported her and decided to seek admission for her into a cricket training academy. However, Shefali and her father were disheartened to know that there were no cricket training academies for girls. They pleaded to the authorities for Shefali’s admission into the existing academies for boys but were turned back. Without losing hope, Sanjeev made up his mind to chop Shefali’s hair and let her dress up like a boy so that she could get admission and train as a boy. Shefali who was only nine years got enrolled in one of the academies as a boy. She trained very hard with sincerity and devotion. Playing with boys, she was many times bruised and battered, but she didn’t give up, on the contrary, her passion for the game grew by the day. Her proud father, Sanjeev said that Shefali never gave up even though she used to often get hit on the helmet. Many a time, the ball would smash the helmet grill and he would get worried, but the gritty girl continued to play undeterred. Her dedication towards the game saw her amass 1,923 in a superb domestic season. Based on this display of superb performance, she got to represent India in the Women’s T20 International against South Africa last month. She was selected to replace cricket star Mithali Raj who retired from the shortest format of the game. Shefali had a great series and also was instrumental in India’s win in the fourth T20 match against South Africa. While neighbors and relatives taunted her for playing cricket with boys, Shefali just focused on her training without getting distracted by such negative comments. Now those same people are chanting her name! Shefali is determined to cement her place in the side before flourishing across formats. She is only 15 years old and is a class 10 student, but her aim is to play as long as possible for India and keep winning matched for her country. Way to go, girl! Image Source: iDiva
