Exuberant Shafali makes the Test grade seamlessly

From the moment Shafali Verma burst onto the international scene with an unconventional sass in her batting - a rare commodity on the Indian circuit - unabashed adulation and flattering comparisons have constantly tailed the prodigy. That she's fearless like a certain de Villiers, has no regard for the conditions, match situation or who the bowler is like a certain Sehwag, and takes only the 'see the ball, hit the ball' approach like, basically, every other basher.

All true.

In her nascent international career so far, that comprised only T20s before this Wednesday, Verma had already made scribes run out of synonyms of 'fearless' to describe what she does every time she strides out to the middle. Continuing with that trend, the teenager left everyone gasping yet again on the occasion of her Test debut, at Bristol.

Not because of the 96 she scored in the first-ever red-ball innings of her life, or the century she narrowly missed out on backing herself and her typical methods to get to the landmark with a glory shot. Not because she followed it up with another unbeaten fifty, this time without the reassuring presence of fellow senior opener. Not because she's already broken several records two days into her Test career, and then set some more. But purely because of the temperament she displayed that ranks several notches higher than any quantifiable achievements in this format.

Also true.

Before going on the offensive against Katherine Brunt, or just treating a rather experienced bowling unit with collective disdain on her way to an effortless 96, Verma showed she's every inch a Test cricketer with the clarity of a seasoned pro that set the tone of her innings.

With her reputation, it was never going to be an easy initiation into the format, however limited her rivalry with the English bowlers. Expectedly, senior quicks Brunt and Anya Shrubsole came out all guns blazing. In a probing opening spell, England's new-ball pair put India's openers through paces and especially tested the newcomer outside the off-stump as well as on the stumps.

Verma, however, stood there like a rock - curbing her natural instincts, bringing her foot in line with the ball and blocking it with the straight face of the bat - smiling and chewing gum through it all with total abandon. The good balls were duly respected, the bad ones put away aptly - and those misread and missed were laughed off immediately before switching the focus solely onto the next delivery.

You could tell Verma, all of 17, was purely having fun on her debut. But, extraordinarily, she also had the awareness that Test cricket required more method than her usual madness. The composure with which she confronted the new-ball challenge in unfavourable conditions made it seem like she was in total control of the proceedings - hardly synonymous with a kid just getting her feet wet in international cricket. Brunt & Co's rather evident frustration and sighs, and the occasional looseners that followed, came not as a surprise but validation.

Once she had weathered the storm, alongside two-Test veteran Smriti Mandhana, Verma effortlessly slid into the zone from where it would have taken only a heavy-duty blunder on her part to not get that rare distinction of a hundred on debut. From there on, the skilful dabs, exquisite drives, the late-cuts and occasional pulls altogether fetched her 13 boundaries, in addition to two sixes, as she raced through to the 90s. She blunted Brunt's threat driving uppishly over the bowler's head for a boundary that not just signalled the switch in gears but also instilled confidence in a rather defiant Mandhana at the other end. Not many can claim to overshadow the elegance of an on-song Mandhana at the other end; Verma now has the distinction of doing that in both T20Is and Test.

She did err, much to England's delight, whether or not it was induced by the invisible pressure of an imminent milestone. But soon after, with the same maturity that was characteristic of her innings earlier in the day, she promised to make it up to her support system.

So, as if on cue, there she was again, headlining India's spirited response to yet another mammoth ask for a second day running on Friday , and doing it on her own terms. Impeccable timing and strokeplay resulted in some pristine drives and audacious hits over the bowlers' head once again as Verma whetted the appetite by knocking off 55 already from that promised century. That it came at a typical Shafali Verma pace in testing, overcast conditions, despite losing Mandhana cheaply while following-on in the second dig, made every run seem double its worth. Crucially, though, she's left India clinging onto that last inch of hope of eking out a draw, should the weather gods also hold up their end of the bargain.

Overlooked for the ODIs against South Africa little over three months ago rather inexplicably, and addressing a barrage of questions on the snub, Verma put all concerns to rest when she wholly and solely chose to look for answers within rather than speculating. "Must have been due to some shortcomings in my game," she had said with the innocence of a 17-year-old but also utter composure. Rest assured, her first week on English soil and conditions should leave little doubt - in her mind as well as that of the management - about her preparedness for the format. Any format.

Mandhana, who has more often than not had the best seat in the house to Verma's shenanigans and been an accomplice in most recent record-shattering sprees, was also impressed with the adaptability her teenaged opening partner showed from the get-go in her red-ball and multi-day career.

"It's quite impressive to watch her bat from the other end and also to bat along [with her]," Mandhana said at the end of rain-curtailed third day's play.

"We both are quite similar, in terms of keeping things simple, so we don't really discuss much about batting in the middle. But yeah, the way she changed her game [for Tests] and the kind of maturity she's shown at this early stage of her career, I think it's a huge positive for Indian cricket going forward. I have always watched her T20 [knocks] from the other end and it's always amazing to watch what she does and the way she does it. I hope she keeps going the way she is [progressing] right now."

Predictably disappointed after falling four short and making her way out of the park on Thursday, Verma got an acknowledgement in the form of a fist-bump from her future Hundred teammate Georgia Elwiss, besides the ground and security staff lining up a guard of honour of sorts on the sidelines. Gestures such as these are enough to attest that Verma's game not only has her team's but also the opposition's stamp of approval; milestones be damned.