ENG vs IND: Shafali Verma among five Test debutants for India, England also hand a debut

Shafali Verma, the No 1 ranked T20 batter in the world, will be making her Test debut in Team India's historic Test match against England women's cricketer team at the County Ground, Bristol. By the virtue of the same, Shafali became the third youngest Indian women player to play a Test match for India.

Rajani Venugopal, made her debut at the age of 15 in the year 2003 against England and Shubhangi Kulkarni aged 17 years and 104 days when she played for India in the Test format for the first time in the 1976 Test match against West Indies women.

However, it's not just Shafali as the Indian women's team handed debuts to as many as five players. All-rounder Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, wicket-keeper Taniya Bhatia and pacer Pooja Vastrakar too made their debut in the whites.

Not just India, England too have a debutant in their side in form of Sophia Dunkley, who became the first black woman to play Test match for England. The hosts won the toss and chose to bat first in the only Test match of the series, which will be followed by three Tests and as many T20Is.

A debut for @englandcricket as well!

Sophia Dunkley becomes the first black woman to represent England in Tests.

MOMENTOUS.#ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/NDmTfszNpT

— Women's CricZone (@WomensCricZone) June 16, 2021

Playing XIs

England Women: Lauren Winfield-Hill, Tammy Beaumont, Heather Knight(c), Natalie Sciver, Amy Jones(w), Sophia Dunkley, Georgia Elwiss, Katherine Brunt, Anya Shrubsole, Sophie Eccelstone, Kate Cross

India Women: Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Punam Raut, Mithali Raj(c), Harmanpreet Kaur(vc), Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Taniya Bhatia(w), Shikha Pandey, Jhulan Goswami, Pooja Vastrakar