India’s young batting sensation Shafali Verma and left-arm spinner Radha Yadav have been roped in by Sydney Sixers for the upcoming Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL), the club announced on Monday. (More Cricket News)
Earlier, on Sunday, two other Indians Smriti Mandhana and Deepti Sharma confirmed their participations for Sydney Thunder.
Shafali has been doing good in Australia starting from the T20 World Cup last year taking India to the final. The youngest Indian to debut at international cricket, Shafali is also currently the No.1 batter in ICC T20 Rankings for women. She also turned up for Birmingham Phoenix in The Hundred recently.
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On Sunday, Shafali also starred in India’s famous win over Australia with a mature half-century. This will be Shafali’s maiden WBBL outing. “This is a very good opportunity for me and my goal is to just enjoy myself, to make some new friends and have fun,” Verma said. “I want to play WBBL and back myself and just believe in myself.”
Sydney Sixers head coach Ben Sawyer lavished praise on Shafali labelling her ‘fearless’. “She hits to different areas of the field and plays shots that are different to the other three girls in that top four,” said Sawyer, who worked with Shafali in The Hundred.
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“The experience I had with her in Birmingham was that she wants to learn, she wants to get better and she wants to grow as a player and a person.” Yadav, who is also in Australia with the India T20 squad, will be making her maiden appearance in the WBBL.
“Lots of young Indian girls want to play in the WBBL,” 21-year-old Yadav said. “It is a very good standard and I am so happy to be able to play for the Sixers this year.”
“Radha brings a skillset that we have never had at the Sixers and that’s very exciting,” Sawyer said.
“I think a left-arm orthodox bowler is so important in the WBBL and having one who is world-class is such a great opportunity for this team. She has also batted in the middle of the order for India so she is handy with the bat too.”
