Australia wary of Shafali Verma in World T20

Sydney, Jan 13:  Young India batswoman Shafali Verma received a lot of praise after her consecutive good shows at the international level and now Australia vice-captain Rachael Haynes has also showered praise on the 15-year-old Haryana cricketer.

Shafali had hogged the limelight when she broke batting great Sachin Tendulkar's record to become the youngest Indian to score an international half-century in November and she has not looked back since then. In the India 'A' squad that recently toured Down Under, the aggressive opener struck an impressive 124 from 78 deliveries in the first one-dayer against Australia A.

Speaking at the Sydney Showgrounds, where her side will take on India in the opening clash of the ICC Women's T20 World Cup on February 21, Haynes said her team will chalk out a plan to tackle Shafali.

"I watched her on the Gold Coast during the A series, she's a player with a bit of X factor, she's a clean striker of the ball,. We'll sit down and have a look at her. It was nice in some respects that we got to see her play over in Australia, and I'm sure we'll prepare well for it," Haynes was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.

Speaking on the India women's T20 squad, Haynes felt that the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side is a tough team and her side will have to prepare really well.

"They've got a really strong team, they're one of the best in the world at this format. They're going to be a really formidable opponent, a team who we're going to prepare really well to play against, but I think our team is well and truly looking forward to the challenge," the Aussie women's vice-captain expressed.

While the India women are placed third in the ICC T20 rankings, Australia holds the first place.