Shafali Verma etched her name into the history books with a blistering, unbeaten 100 off just 49 balls against Bangladesh in the semi-final of the 2026 Asian Games at Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin on Sunday.
First Woman To Score A Century In Asian Games Cricket Shafali became the first cricketer in the history of the Women’s Asian Games tournament to score a century. She joined Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur as one of only three Indian women to have scored a century in T20 Internationals. 1. The previous highest individual score belonged to Sri Lanka’s Chamari Athapaththu, who scored an unbeaten 83 against Pakistan earlier on Sunday. Reaching her ton off just 49 deliveries, Shafali equalled skipper Harmanpreet Kaur’s long-standing national record for the fastest women’s T20I hundred for India (Kaur scored a 49-ball ton against New Zealand at Providence during the 2018 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup). 3. Maiden T20I Century & Elite Indian Club Despite boasting several half-centuries and an aggressive reputation since debuting at age 15, this marked Shafali’s maiden international T20 hundred. The nine sixes on Sunday took Shafali’s 2026 tally to 35, overtaking Athapaththu’s 32 from 2024. She entered the match with 26 sixes in the year.
It was her maiden T20I and white-ball international century. The 22-year-old Shafali’s century, which featured three fours and nine monstrous sixes, came on the last ball of India’s innings. India then bowled Bangladesh out for 81 and advanced to the gold-medal match against Sri Lanka. Shafali has been in outstanding knockout form; recent scores include 40 off 16 in the Asian Games quarter-final and strong contributions in the Asia Cup final and semi-final. The win guarantees India at least silver as they defend their 2023 Hangzhou gold against Sri Lanka.
