Bristol, June 18

Debutant Shafali Verma became only the fourth player — and the youngest one — in the history of women’s cricket to hit consecutive half-centuries on debut as she took India to 83/1 in their second innings on the third day of the one-off Test against England here today.

The 17-year-old promising star was batting on 55 not out off 68 balls at stumps after India were forced to follow on. She hit 11 boundaries. Verma had hit 96 in her first innings. Before Verma, Lesley Cooke (England), Jessica Louise Jonassen (Australia) and Vanessa Bowen (Sri Lanka) were the other players who scored two 50-plus scores on debut.

Another debutant, Deepti Sharma, who was promoted to No. 3 after her resolute 29 not out in India’s first innings, was giving Verma company at the crease on 18 not out. The duo defied the England bowlers for 20 overs and added 54 runs in the post-lunch session when tea was called due to rain. The final session was washed away due to rain. The post-lunch session itself started 30 minutes late due to rain. England toiled hard for the whole second session without any success.

The other opener, Smriti Mandhana, was dismissed in the morning session for 8.

India are still trailing by 82 runs with nine second innings wickets in hand in the four-day match.

Earlier, India were left with a mountain to climb after being shot out for 231 in their first innings, half an hour before lunch. After a dramatic collapse on the second day, India’s batting woes continued as they lost five wickets for just 44 runs in 21.2 overs.

Brief scores: England: 396/9 decl in 121.2 overs (Knight 95, Dunkley 74*, Beaumont 66; Rana 4/131, Deepti 3/65); India: 231 all out in 81.2 overs (Verma 96, Mandhana 78, Deepti 29*; Ecclestone 4/88, Knight 2/7) & 83/1 in 24.3 overs (Verma 55*, Deepti 18*; Brunt 1/21). — PTI

1 Shafali Verma is the first Indian woman to make twin fifties on Test debut, and the youngest player overall