Since making her international debut at the young age of 15, India's Shafali Verma has established herself as one of the most reliable and flamboyant batters in the world. She has received praise from a number of cricket greats for her dazzling batting at the top, most recently from former India captain Mithali Raj.

Mithali, a leading proponent of women's cricket, recalled the first time she saw Shafali play domestic cricket and realized the right-handed opener had the ability to completely change the outcome of the game.

"When I saw Shafali in a domestic match, she scored a fifty, and I could see the glimpse of a player who could change the entire match with her innings. When she played for Velocity in the first edition of the Challenger Trophy, she played from my team, and even then I could see she has the ability, the raw power, that you very rarely get to see at that age to clear boundaries and to hit a six at will," Mithali said on an ICC Podcast.

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While showering the youngster with praise, the legendary batter said that she admired Shafali's batting and noted that she considers the 18-year-old to be a player who can win games for the team all by herself.

"I have been a big fan of her game. I have seen that she is one player to has the ability to win games single-handedly for India, against any attack, against any team. I am really looking forward to see how far she will go in terms of taking the responsibility of winning matches for India and how she will be groomed," she said.

Shafali Verma struck a commendable 48 off 33 balls against Australia in the ongoing Commonwealth Games 2022, taking her team's total to 154/8. But it went in vain as the Women in Blue lost the match by three wickets. 

Shafali and Smriti Mandhana shared a 61-run match-winning partnership on Sunday (July 31), giving Harmanpreet Kaur's team a comprehensive 8-wicket victory against arch-rivals Pakistan.

(ICC INPUTS)