WBBL 2021: Sydney Sixers Confirm India's Shafali Verma And Radha Yadav For Upcoming Season

Sydney Sixers have signed India women’s team prodigies Shafali Verma and Radha Yadav for the upcoming WBBL season next month, the franchise announced on Monday.

Shafali Verma has revealed herself as a sensational and talented batter since she broke into the Indian women’s team in 2019 and also displayed her batting prowess by scoring 163 runs from five innings.

I want to play WBBL and back myself: Shafali Verma

Verma, who is currently ranked as the no.1 T20I batter in the ICC rankings, said that she finds it a good opportunity to make new friends and have fun.

“This is a very good opportunity for me, and my goal is just to enjoy myself, to make some new friends and have fun. I want to play WBBL and back myself and just believe in myself,” Verma said, as reported by Cricbuzz. 

I am so happy to be able to play for the Sixers this year: Radha Yadav

Yadav, who is currently with the Indian women’s team in Australia, said that she is happy to join Sydney Sixers.

“Lots of young Indian girls want to play in the WBBL. It is a very good standard, and I am so happy to be able to play for the Sixers this year,” Yadav said.

Sydney Sixers head coach Ben Sawyer has already worked with Shafali Verma in the inaugural edition of The Hundred. Sawyer said that Verma has many shots in her repertoire, and her desire to keep learning makes her different.

Sawyer also said that Radha Yadav brings some different skillset and a left-arm spinner is something he was looking to fill up the space in the team.

“She hits to different areas of the field and plays shots that are different to the other three girls in that top four. The experience I had with her in Birmingham was that she wants to learn, she wants to get better, and she wants to grow as a player and a person,” Sawyer said.

“Radha brings a skill set that we have never had at the Sixers, and that’s very exciting. I think a left-arm orthodox bowler is so important in the WBBL and having a world-class one is such a great opportunity for this team. She has also batted in the middle of the order for India, so she is handy with the bat too,” he added.

Earlier, Sydney Thunder signed Smriti Mandhana and Deepti Sharma for the new season of WBBL 2021.

Also Read: WBBL 2021: Sydney Thunder Signs Smriti Mandhana And Deepti Sharma