India women opener Shafali Verma scripted a huge milestone during the Asian Games 2026 cricket event final on Tuesday. The right-handed batter scored 48 runs off 29 balls with the help of three fours and as many sixes. Her knock played a crucial role in helping India rout Sri Lanka by 147 runs in the summit clash at Korogi Sports Park, Nisshin. The side had bagged the top honour in the 2023 event in Hangzhou earlier.
With the win, India successfully defended their gold medal.
After the match, her tally stood at 863 runs. She comfortably surpassed South Africa’s Laura Wolvaardt, who has 824 runs to her name in the ongoing year. Shafali moved past India’s Smriti Mandhana and West Indies’ Hayley Matthews to reach fourth with 756 rating points. The 22-year-old carried her form from the Women’s T20 Asia Cup into the Asian Games, scoring 64 and 68 in the continental tournament’s semifinal and final, respectively. At the Asian Games, Shafali made an unbeaten 40 in India’s quarterfinal against Japan before smashing an unbeaten 100 off 49 balls against Bangladesh in the semifinal.
Australia’s Beth Mooney, Georgia Voll and South Africa’s Laura Wolvaardt retained the top three spots, according to the ICC. She became the women’s batter with the most T20I runs in a calendar year. Shafali has climbed two places to fourth in the latest ICC Women’s T20I batting rankings following a prolific run in the Asia Cup and Asian Games, while teammates Deepti Sharma and N Shree Charani continue to occupy the top two positions in the bowling charts. The century was her maiden white-ball hundred in international cricket and made her the first woman to score a century at the Asian Games.
During her knock on Tuesday, Shafali registered a historic feat.
