Shafali Verma to miss Birmingham's eliminator against Oval

Shafali Verma won't feature in Birmingham Phoenix's Hundred eliminator against Oval Invincibles on Friday (August 20). The young Indian opener will be returning home ahead of India's tour to Australia.

The Indian players are currently in Bangalore for a training camp. Verma and the other players who were competing in the Hundred are expected to join the camp by the end of this week.

"I really enjoyed playing with this great group of people in the Hundred. Friendships and memories that will last forever. Best of luck for the remainder of the tournament," Verma posted on Instagram.

The 17-year-old was impressive in the multi-format series against England but wasn't really consistent in the Hundred. The right-hander went past the 25-run mark only once, scoring 171 runs in eight innings at an average of 24.42 and a strike rate of 142.50.

Verma did smoke 76* against Welsh Fire as Birmingham went on to win their last three fixtures and managed to make it through to the knockouts. Phoenix's captain Amy Jones said that the team will miss Verma's service but have enough depth in the squad to cover for her absence.

"Obviously Shafali was hitting her straps and we saw how dangerous she is against Welsh Fire so she is a big loss for us. But we're very lucky in that the girls who have been running the drinks in Marie Kelly, Thea (Brookes) and Ria (Fackrell) are all very powerful hitters and are quality cricketers." 

India will begin the multi-format series against Australia with the three ODIs to be played on September 19, 22 and 24. India, who played a Test match after a gap of seven years against England in June, will play their maiden pink-ball Test at Perth from September 30. The tour will conclude with three T20Is scheduled for October 7,9 and 11.