Shafali reminds us of Virender Sehwag: India fielding coach R Sridhar

The first day of the WTC final between India and New Zealand got washed out due to incessant rains, but there was no dearth of entertainment for the fans of Indian cricket. Teenage sensation Shefali Verma continued to enthral the audience with another fifty – her second on debut. Shafali, who scored 96 in the first innings of the ongoing Test against England, notched up another fifty in the second innings.

Indian men’s team’s fielding coach R Sridhar too joined the list of Shefali Verma admirers, likening the Haryana batter with former India opener Virender Sehwag.

“Shafali, so much reminds us of Viru (Virender Sehwag), doesn’t she? The way she plays and her mindset is so clear, so we are enjoying the innings from Shafali. I wish she had got a hundred in the first innings,” Sridhar said at the virtual press conference after the first day of the WTC final was washed out due to rain.

“And well played to both Smriti (Mandhana) and Shafali, what a rollicking start they gave us in the first innings and unfortunately, we couldn’t capitalize on that, but great test match going there,” added Sridhar.

Sridhar further revealed that the Virat Kohli-led side was closely following the women’s team’s game during off-time from practice in the last couple of days.

“We have not missed a bit of the girls’ game right from day one. We have almost seen it, whenever we can except for the times we were out for practice. All of us have seen the game, it has been live going on in our rooms, in our team room, in our breakfast area and even today, when we are (were) for the rain to stop, all of us were sitting together and watching the girl’s game and encouraging our girls,” he concluded.