Shafali Verma

When Shafali Verma first walked out for India as a 15-year-old, she swung her bat like a slingshot, all fearless violence and minimal footwork. Critics admired the spunk but questioned whether such raw hitting could survive at the top level. Within eighteen months she had answered them, taking England and Australia bowlers for sixes off good deliveries. She became the youngest Indian, male or female, to score an international fifty, breaking a record Sachin Tendulkar had held for three decades.

Shafali can reposition a T20 game in a single over, cutting spinners off the stumps and bullying pace into the leg-side stands. In 2023 she captained India to the title at the inaugural Under-19 Women's T20 World Cup. In 2024 she hammered 205 against South Africa in Chennai, the fastest double-century in women's Test history. And in November 2025 came the crowning moment: dropped earlier in the year and recalled as an injury replacement, she made 87 and took two wickets in the final of the ODI World Cup, earning Player of the Match as India lifted the trophy for the first time.

Her franchise record, for Delhi Capitals in the Women's Premier League and Birmingham Phoenix in the Hundred, shows the same match-turning impact. Coaches note her hunger for improvement, and her off-side game has expanded steadily since 2023. Still in her early twenties, Shafali plays as if every ball might win the match.