Indian women’s cricket sensation needed boy’s haircut to play

India’s 15-year-old women’s cricket sensation  Shafali   Verma  had to get her hair cut like a boy so that she could get into the local academy to train, her father told AFP.
Now India’s cricket establishment is relying on  Verma , who made her Twenty20 debut for the national team against South Africa last month and will soon go on a tour of the West Indies.
The teenager has become known for her aggressive batting. But her father Sanjeev  Verma  told of the struggle to get her daughter accepted in games.
Start of Cricket Journey “I introduced her to cricket when she was eight or nine. I used to take her to play neighbourhood teams on Sundays,” he said.
“Most teams refused to play against her. They said that she could get hurt and that I would complain if that happened.
“Even when I insisted she was my daughter and I was okay, most didn’t agree,” said  Verma , who makes jewellery in Rohtak near New Delhi.