Shafali Verma completed a hat-trick against Karnataka in the pre-quarter-final of the Women’s Under-23 One-Day Trophy at Guwahati.
Verma seems to have fallen out of favour with the national selectors in both limited-over formats since India’s group-stage exit at the 2024 Women’s T20 World Cup. At the 2025 WPL, no one scored more than her 304 runs at a strike rate better than her 153. Her 16 sixes were bettered by only Ash Gardner (18), who faced 51 more balls than her.
Shafali Verma takes hat-trick days after WPL 2025 final
Despite topping the league stage, however, Verma’s team Delhi Capitals lost their third consecutive final, on March 15. A day and a half later, on the morning of March 17, Verma was leading Haryana across the country in Guwahati (the WPL final was in Mumbai) in the U23 pre-quarter-final against Karnataka, whose captain Niki Prasad was Verma’s teammate in the WPL final.
As Karnataka piled on the runs, Verma brought herself on to bowl. While not a regular bowler, Verma’s off-breaks have fetched her 12 wickets in international cricket.
In the 44th over of the innings – Karnataka were 188-4 at that point – she had Saloni P caught off the fifth ball, and trapped wicketkeeper Soumya Verma leg-before off the sixth. Then, in the first ball of the 46th over, she bowled Namita D’Souza to complete a hat-trick and finished with 3-20 from four overs.
Mithila Vinod’s 87-ball 90 eventually took Karnataka to 217. Coming to open batting, Verma then hit four fours in 12 balls at the top before falling for 18. Haryana became 71-3, but Sonia Mendhiya (66 in 79 balls) and Tanisha Ohlan (77 not out in 77) added 92 in quick time. Triveni Vasistha (25 not out in 37) then helped Ohlan complete the chase with six wickets and eight overs in hand.
This is the fourth hat-trick by an Indian woman in 2024-25 but the first in 50-over cricket. The first three – Zothan Sangi (for Mizoram against Gujarat), Saiqa Ishaque (for India A against India E), and Vaishnavi Sharma (for India U19s against Malaysia U19s) all came in 20-over games.
