AFP, New Delhi :
India’s 15-year-old women’s cricket sensation Shafali Verma had to get her hair cut like a boy so that she could get into the local academy to train, her father told AFP.
Now India’s cricket establishment is relying on Verma, who made her Twenty20 debut for the national team against South Africa last month and will soon go on a tour of the West Indies.
The teenager has become known for her aggressive batting. But her father Sanjeev Verma told of the struggle to get her daughter accepted in games.
“I introduced her to cricket when she was eight or nine. I used to take her to play neighbourhood teams on Sundays,” he said.
“Most teams refused to play against her. They said that she could get hurt and that I would complain if that happened.
“Even when I insisted she was my daughter and I was okay, most didn’t agree,” said Verma, who makes jewellery in Rohtak near New Delhi.
That is when he decided to give her a “boy’s haircut” to trick opponents.
India’s 15-year-old women’s cricket sensation Shafali Verma had to get her hair cut like a boy so that she could get into the local academy to train, her father told AFP.
Now India’s cricket establishment is relying on Verma, who made her Twenty20 debut for the national team against South Africa last month and will soon go on a tour of the West Indies.
The teenager has become known for her aggressive batting. But her father Sanjeev Verma told of the struggle to get her daughter accepted in games.
“I introduced her to cricket when she was eight or nine. I used to take her to play neighbourhood teams on Sundays,” he said.
“Most teams refused to play against her. They said that she could get hurt and that I would complain if that happened.
“Even when I insisted she was my daughter and I was okay, most didn’t agree,” said Verma, who makes jewellery in Rohtak near New Delhi.
That is when he decided to give her a “boy’s haircut” to trick opponents.
