Shafali Verma's historic century powers defending champions India into finals of Asian Games 2026

TimesofIndia in Nagoya: At the Aichi Prefectural General Shooting Gallery, Elavenil Valarivan ended a long wait for an Asian Games medal. Some 50km away, at the makeshift cricket stadium inside Korogi Sports Park, another delayed milestone was being achieved by prodigal opener Shafali Verma.The Indian opener ended a seven-year wait for a white-ball century on Sunday, smashing an unbeaten 49-ball 100 (3x4, 9x6) to power defending champions India into Tuesday’s final against Sri Lanka.India crushed Bangladesh by 114 runs in a one-sided semifinal after posting 194/4, with Shafali anchoring the innings. Earlier, in a rain-affected semifinal, Sri Lanka eased past Pakistan by eight wickets.Shafali and Smriti Mandhana (37) gave India a flying start with a 72-run opening stand. In the process, Smriti became the highest run-scorer in women’s T20 internationals, taking her tally to 4,788 runs and surpassing New Zealand’s Suzie Bates (4,758).India also had reason to cheer with their captain finding rhythm. Harmanpreet Kaur, who hasn’t had a great run with the bat, struck a 33-ball 40. Bangladesh never threatened in the chase and were bowled out for 81 in 15.4 overs, with Nandini Sharma and Deepti Sharma taking three wickets apiece.For Shafali, though, the afternoon was about finally breaking a barrier that had stood since her T20I debut in 2019. It took her 118 matches to get there.The 22-year-old, who was under the weather, showed no signs of discomfort once she found her rhythm, hitting a boundary and a six off Sanjida Akter in the second over.“This century is very special because from the time I started playing cricket, I’ve manifested scoring a T20 century. I know it took me a long time, but I’m happy that it’s finally come,” a visibly relieved Shafali said.“When I debuted for the team in 2019, I thought T20 was my favourite format and I would put up a show in it, but it took some years for that,” she added.Shafali said she had mixed caution with aggression and rotated the strike, after India’s easy quarterfinal against Japan had left several players short of match practice. “The deliveries which were not in the range, I wanted to play them down. I was also focused on rotating strike so that the others get used to the conditions as well,” she said.Get the latest Sports News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.