Mithali Raj: Shafali Verma will be very important for us in all formats

Shafali Vermarsquos spectacular debut has caught the imagination of India womenrsquos team Test skipper Mithali Raj who feels the teenager will be a key member of the side in all formats of the game in futureVerma 17 who had smashed a strokefilled 96 in the first innings made 63 in the second to become the youngest woman and fourth overall to score twin halfcenturies in her debut Test and was rightfully adjudged player of the matchMithali Raj PicSayyed Sameer AbedildquoShe will be very very important to the Indian batting unit in all formats She beautifully adapted to this formatrdquo Mithali said in a virtual media interaction after India following on salvaged a draw in the oneoff Test against EnglandldquoShe didnrsquot go like how she would go bonkers in the T20 format She played sensibly against the new ball Itrsquos great to have herrdquo On the decision to hand Verma a Test debut here Raj said ldquoShe has a great range of shots and can be very effective in this format If she gets going in no time we could see the score could be something else Once we knew itrsquos a used wicket and there wonrsquot be much movement we felt it would be a good time to give her a Test debut and she has lived up to itrdquoRaj rated the young openerrsquos knock in the second innings ahead of her first innings score of 96 given her composure and maturity ldquoThe second fifty came with a little more sorted head and a bit more experience Those sweetlytimed drives were beautiful to watch She will grow from strength to strengthrdquoIn reply to Englandrsquos first innings score of 396 for 9 India playing their firstever Test in seven years collapsed to 231 from 167 for no loss courtesy the fine start given by Verma and Smriti Mandhana Followingon India collapsed after fifties from Verma and Deepti Sharma and were staring at defeat before debutants Sneh Rana 80 not out and wicketkeeper Taniya Bhatia 44 not out pulled off a thrilling draw in the last sessionIndia stretched their unbeaten run against England to 26 years with this draw and Mithali felt the result would give the visitors an edge going into the limited overs series India play three ODIs and three T20Is beginning with the first game here on June 27Also ReadYou call them inexperiencedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever