Harsha Bhogle compares Shafali Verma with Virender Sehwag

Heaping praise on India Women opener Shafali Verma on Monday, cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle said that the teenager is going to be like former India batsman Virender Sehwag.

16-year-old Shafali is a clean hitter of the ball, a quality possessed by Sehwag, and her dominating nature on the crease gives a hint of the retired cricketer who used to rule over his opponents in the latter half of the 2000s.

Harsha Bhogle wrote on Twitter:

I remember thinking Smriti Mandhana is like Ganguly through the off side. Well, Shafali Varma is going to be like Sehwag then. Now if Harmanpreet gets going, this will be an even more formidable line up.

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) February 24, 2020

It is worth noting that Shafali Verma is the youngest Indian player to score a half-century in international cricket. Her 73-run knock off 49 balls against West Indies in November last year saw her surpass Sachin Tendulkar's 30-year-old record. Shafali achieved the feat at 15 years and 285 days while Tendulkar had scored his maiden international fifty at 16 years and 214 days.

Talking about her outing to Australia for the ongoing T20 World Cup, Shafali has been on the money from the opening match which was against Australia. The teenager had scored 29 runs off 15 balls to give India a blazing start.

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In the following match which was on Monday against Bangladesh, the swashbuckling opener butchered the Bangladeshi bowlers during her 39-run knock that came off just 17 balls. Her blitzkrieg included 2 fours and 4 sixes. She was declared the Player of the Match as India defeated Bangladesh by 18 runs.

While the expectations from Shafali are high, the teenager should focus on capitalising the good starts.