Stat-Blast – Shafali Verma blows apart records with stormy century against Bangladesh
Shafali Verma laid the brickwork for Team India’s solid performance against Bangladesh as they clinched their ticket to the finale in the Asian Games.
Verma smashed her first WT20I century as India made light work off Bangladesh, securing a staggering 114-run win. As India marched into the finals, they toppled a handful of records and set new ones along the way.
Here’s a quick list of the feats racked up by the Women in Blue in Nisshin.
· Shafali Verma became the first woman to smash a hundred in the Asian Games. She leapfrogged Chamari Athapaththu’s highest score of 83* against Pakistan in the first semi-final of the ongoing Games to become the leading run-scorer in a single innings in the history of the fray.
· Shafali struck nine sixes in the innings, a feat that made her the Indian with the most sixes in a WT20I innings, surpassing that of Harmanpreet Kaur’s eight against New Zealand in the 2018 T20 World Cup.
· India smashed 12 sixes, the most in a WT20I innings, getting past West Indies’ 11 sixes against Ireland in 2019 and Brazil’s 11 sixes Mexico in 2024.
· Smriti Mandhana smashed 37 off 19 runs, while also becoming the leading run-scorer in WT20Is, garnering 4788 runs, getting past Suzie Bates whose haul boasts of 4758 runs.
· India’s 195/4 is the second highest team total in the Asian Games’ women’s competition. Hong Kong’s 202/4 against Mongolia at Hangzhou in 2023 still remains the highest.
· Shafali Verma’s ton came in 49 balls, making her the joint fastest Indian woman to complete a century alongside Harmanpreet Kaur who pulled off the same feat against New Zealand in 2018.
· Shafali has smacked 104 WT20I sixes, making her the Indian with the highest number of over-boundaries in the shortest format of the game.
· Verma has also smashed 35 sixes in the calendar year of 2026, making her the woman with the most number of sixes in a calendar year, getting past Chamari Athapaththu’s tally of 32 sixes in 2024.
