Shafali Verma becomes the first woman past 900 T20I runs in a calendar year

Shafali Verma carries 922 runs for 2026 into the final T20I against Zimbabwe in Raipur, more than any woman has made in a calendar year in the format

India's opener went past 900 runs for the year with her 55 from 25 balls in the second T20I on Sunday, a figure no woman had reached in T20 internationals before.

The record itself had changed hands four weeks earlier, when she overhauled Laura Wolvaardt in the Asian Games gold-medal match. Raipur simply extended it.

India lead the three-match series 2-0 and play the last of them at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium on Tuesday evening, with only a clean sweep left to decide.

The record taken in a gold-medal match

Verma passed Wolvaardt's mark on 22 September in the Asian Games final against Sri Lanka at Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin. She needed ten runs to do it and reached them inside her first seven balls.

She made 48 from 29 in that innings, with three fours and three sixes, falling short of a half-century but clear of the record. It left her on 863 runs for the year from 24 T20Is.

Wolvaardt's 824 runs had been the benchmark. The South African captain remains second on the calendar-year list.

A 25-ball answer in Raipur

Zimbabwe batted first in the second T20I and made 102 for 8, leaving India 103 to win. Verma removed any doubt about how long that would take.

She hit six fours and four sixes at a strike rate of 220 before Beloved Biza dismissed her, by which point India were all but home. Her opening stand with Smriti Mandhana, who finished 47 not out, was worth 96.

India completed the chase in 8.5 overs for the loss of that single wicket. The 67 balls to spare are the most in any successful chase of 100 or more in women's T20Is, beating the 65 West Indies had against Zimbabwe in Harare earlier this year.

How the year adds up

The 55 was Verma's ninth score of fifty or more in 2026, another calendar-year record in the women's game. The previous best was eight, by Mandhana.

Her year to the Asian Games final read 863 runs at an average of 39.22 and a strike rate of 162.83, with one hundred and seven fifties, the century unbeaten on 100.

Wolvaardt's 824 came from the same number of matches at a higher average, 43.36, and a lower strike rate of 138.72. The gap between them is a difference of method as much as output.

Zimbabwe still looking for a win

The tour is Zimbabwe's first bilateral visit to India in the women's game, and the sides had never met in a T20I before this month. Josephine Nkomo's team have lost both matches.

They came closer in the opener on 16 October, posting 114 for 5 through Sharne Mayers and Kelis Ndhlovu and then reducing India to 19 for 4. Nyasha Gwanzura took 3-18.

Deepti Sharma made 49 and Niki Prasad finished 39 not out on debut to settle it, India reaching 116 for 6 with 26 balls to spare. Verma contributed 4 from 2 balls that night, which is the only innings standing between her and a larger number still.

What Tuesday is for

Mandhana is leading India for the first time as full-time captain in any format, with Verma as her deputy. Jemimah Rodrigues is missing the tour with a hamstring injury.

The series is already won, so the finale offers India a sweep and a look at players yet to bat, and Zimbabwe a last chance to take something home from the trip.

Both teams then move to Vadodara, where the first of three one-day internationals begins at the BCA Stadium on 23 October.

Verma goes into the match needing 78 runs to reach 1,000 for the year, a total no woman has made in T20 internationals.

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