India have reached the semi-final convincingly after registering consecutive wins in the group league matches. Their wins came on the back of the young sensation Shafali Verma, whose blistering form with the bat and her fearless approach helped alongside bowlers effort. Her 46 runs against New Zealand took the game away from the opponents. No player has ever scored more runs at a higher strike rate at a single World Cup than her who has been scoring at 172.72. She has hit 11 fours and eight sixes in first 3 games and one of the most successful batters in the world cricket in Suzie Bates praised her.

“As a senior player, you love to see a youngster come out and hit the ball hard,” said Bates. “I think India has been searching for someone like her at the top of the order for a long time. She’s just going to get better and better.”

“I think we bowled reasonably well at her and got unlucky. She’s great for the game moving forward and for Indian cricket. She’s so young and has so many games ahead of her that she can dominate,” she added.

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However, it was New Zealand’s Amelia Kerr who dismissed Shafali Verma in the 14th over. She even tried her best with the bat too to win the game but failed by mere 4 runs in the end.

“Verma and Kerr are a similar sort of player,” said Bates. “You don’t find many players who come into international cricket at the age of 16 around the world. We’ve got the likes of Sophie (Devine) who whacks it pretty hard when she gets the chance, but we love having youngsters come through who are able to do the same.”

The 19-year-old Amelia Kerr looked so composed at the end who smashed more than 15 runs off the leg spinner, Poonam Yadav, in the nerve-wracking game. She hit four boundaries in the penultimate over to brought New Zealand back in the game. However, she failed to hit a final-ball six but her ability showed that she can win games in any time for White Ferns.