Shefali Verma surpasses Annabel Sutherland to score fastest double ton in Tests

Chennai (Tamil Nadu): During the first day of the only Test between India and South Africa Women, opener Shefali Verma surpassed Australian cricketer Annabel Sutherland to score the fastest double hundred in the history of women cricket on Friday at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here.

Shefali played a marvellous inning of 205 runs off 197 balls at a strike rate of 104.06. The right-hand batter slammed a total of 23 fours and eight sixes. She was dismissed in the 75th over through a run-out.

The 20-year-old completed the 200-run mark in just 194 balls and surpassed Sutherland who completed her double-ton in 248 balls against the Proteas earlier this year. The opener fell short by just 38 runs to register the highest individual Test score in women's cricket, held by Pakistan's Kiran Baluch, who scored 242 against the West Indies in 2004.

With this inning, Shefali became the second Indian to score a double hundred in the longest format of the game after former skipper Mithali Raj who played a knock off 214 runs in 407 balls gainst England at Taunton 22 years back.

"I always enjoy my range hitting and try and back my strengths. Smriti always tells me to follow my instincts, especially when playing against the spinners," Shefali said after the end of Day 1 play.

Recapping the first day, Women in Blue skipper Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss and elected to bat first.

Batting first, Team India scored 525 runs with the loss of four wickets in 98 overs. Other than Shefali, Smriti Mandhana (149 runs from 161 balls, 27 fours and 1 six), Jemimah Rodrigues (55 runs in 94 balls, 8 fours), Harmanpreet Kaur (42* runs from 76 balls, 2 fours) and Richa Ghosh (43* runs off 33 balls, 9 fours) played valuable knocks for their side.

For the visitors, the pick of the bowlers was right-arm off-spinner Delmi Tucker who snapped two wickets in her spell of 26 overs, where she conceded 141 runs. One wicket was bagged by Nadine de Klerk in her spell of 10 overs, where she conceded 62 runs.