Injury scare for Shafali Verma in India’s first Asian Games 2023 match vs Malaysia

India women’s cricket team played their first match in the Asian Games 2023 on Thursday, 21 September against Malaysia in Hangzhou.

India dominated the contest from the start of the innings with captain Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma batting with aggressive intent. While Mandhana got out for 27 off 16 balls in the final over of the powerplay, Shafali carried on with the bat. The Malaysian team were left reeling in a rain-curtailed 15-over contest as all the India batters dominated the opposition. Verma added 86 runs off just 47 balls alongside Jemimah Rodrigues in the largest partnership of the Indian innings.

While they were helped by Malaysia’s poor fielding, neither Varma nor Rodrigues shied away from playing the big shots. While India scored at a 10+ rate, disaster struck in the 13th over of the match when an on-drive from Jemimah Rodrigues struck Shafali on her right wrist.

Shafali was not able to move outside of the ball’s trajectory in time and fell on the ground after getting hit. The physio rushed to the ground and bandaged her right away. While she was able to lift the bat with her hand, Shafali got out in the same over, failing to counter an inswinger.

India capped off their innings with 173 runs for the loss of two wickets in 15 overs. India were taken above the 160-mark by some fantastic hitting from Richa Ghosh who came out to bat in the 14th over of the match. Richa scored 21* off just 7 balls while Jemimah remained unbeaten at 47. Rodrigues was not happy at the end of the innings, after she did not complete her fifty despite batting well.

The match was interrupted by rain once again after Malaysia came out to bat in the second innings.