Ecb women

T20 World Cup: Ahead of playing the T20I series opener against England, India vice-captain Smriti Mandhana said her opening partner Shafali Verma is deserving of making a comeback into the setup after eight months, adding that she is excited to open again with the explosive right-handed batter.

Shafali had been out of the national set-up after last year’s T20 World Cup in the UAE, where India failed to enter the semi-finals. After strong showings in the domestic 20-over and 50-over matches, Shafali amassed 304 runs from nine innings with a strike rate of 152.76 for Delhi Capitals (DC) in WPL 2025, and finished at fourth place in the run-scorers’ charts.

That was enough for her to make a comeback in the India T20I team for the series against England, starting in Nottingham on Saturday. “She's had an amazing year. Once the setback had come, she went into domestic, scored bucket loads of runs, and had an amazing WPL.”