Bibhash Lodh, BS News Agency: Century against Bangladesh in the semi-final. Then a whirlwind innings of 48 runs off 29 balls against Sri Lanka in the final. Shafali Verma, who was in great form at the Asian Games, set a new world record despite not being able to touch fifty. This Indian opener now holds the record for the highest run in women's T20Is in a calendar year. Her total so far this year is 863 runs. India batted first against Sri Lanka in the women's cricket final of the Asian Games in Nishin, Japan on Tuesday and scored 216 runs for the loss of 3 wickets. There is no precedent for chasing a bigger target than this in women's T20Is. As a result, Sri Lanka will have to create new history if they want to win the gold medal. Shafali, Smriti Mandhana and Richa Ghosh have contributed greatly to India's big total. After winning the toss and opting to bat, Shafali and Mandhana were aggressive from the start. They added 99 runs in just 10 overs in the opening pair.
Shafali and Mandhana reached a new milestone in international women's T20Is with this pair. They became the first opening pair to reach 4,000 runs in international T20Is.
So far, the pair has accumulated 4,080 runs in international T20Is. Next on the list is the pair of Isha Ojha and Tirtha Satish of the United Arab Emirates - 2,949 runs. Among the full member pairs, Australia's Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney have accumulated 2,720 runs. However, Shafali was out while playing a reverse sweep in the tenth over of the innings.
Earlier, she scored 48 runs in 29 balls. The innings had three fours and three sixes.
These 48 runs gave Shafali the record for the highest runs in women's international T20Is in a calendar year. The 22-year-old opener has scored 863 runs so far in 2026. Her innings includes seven fifties and a century.
Shafali has surpassed South African captain Laura Woolvert. Woolvert has 824 runs this year. Hong Kong's Natasha Miles is third on the list, with 800 runs.
The previous record for the highest number of runs in women's T20Is in a calendar year was held by UAE's Isha Ozhar. She scored 779 runs in 2025. She is joined by Hong Kong's Yasmin Daswani in the 2026 list with the same number of runs.