Why is Shafali Verma not playing today: India have made a couple of changes to their Playing XI for this match.
Advertisement
During the 13th match of Women’s Asia Cup 2022 between India and Pakistan in Sylhet, Pakistan captain Bismah Maroof has won the toss and chose to bat.
Coming on the back of their first-ever loss against Thailand at the same venue yesterday, Maroof laid emphasis on rectifying mistakes against a top quality opposition in India.
Considering their poor head-to-head record against India, Pakistan will have to play exceedingly well in order to beat this opposition in this format after six and a half years.
Maroof confirmed a couple of changes to their Playing XI for this all-important match. Spinner Sadia Iqbal and pacer Aiman Anwer have been included into the Playing XI for pacers Kainat Imtiaz and Diana Baig (injured).
Why is Shafali Verma not playing today vs Pakistan?
India captain Harmanpreet Kaur remained unaffected by losing the toss. Looking to bat first because they have been chasing throughout the tournament, India got what they wanted to do despite not winning the toss.
Much like Pakistan, India have also made a couple of changes to their Playing XI today. Kaur, who was rested during the previous match against against UAE on Tuesday, has come in place of batter Kiran Navgire. The second change lies in the bowling department where spinner Radha Yadav has replaced all-rounder Sneh Rana.
The development means that opening batter Shafali Verma will miss her second match in a row. With batter Sabbhineni Meghana being India’s second-highest run-scorer in this tournament thus far, the team management has given her another opportunity at the top of the order.
What hasn’t particularly worked in Verma’s favour is her mediocre recent form of late. Without a T20I half-century in the last 18 months, Verma has scored 228 runs in her last 10 T20I innings at an average and strike rate of 22.80 and 123.91 respectively.
