India's Shafali Verma, 15, becomes youngest player to score a fifty for country

Shafali Verma, 15, was inspired to play cricket by watching India great Sachin Tendulkar

Just one day after becoming the youngest ever India batter to make an international half-century, 15-year-old Shafali Verma has done it again.

Verma hit 73 off 49 balls in the first of a five-match Twenty20 series against West Indies in St Lucia on Saturday and she smashed 69 not out from only 35 balls in a 10-wicket victory at the same venue on Sunday in the second game.

The 15-year-old became the youngest cricketer to play for India in a T20 game when she made her debut against South Africa in October, scoring an impressive 46.

Now she has broken Sachin Tendulkar's 30-year-old record as the youngest player to make an international fifty for her country.

Tendulkar was 16 years and 214 days when he made a half-century in a Test against Pakistan in Faisalabad in 1989. Verma did it at 15 years and 285 days.

The Indian batter is the second youngest to score an international T20 half-century - the record being held by the UAE's Kavisha Egodage, who was 15 years and 267 days when she achieved the milestone.

Growing up in her hometown of Rohtak, Verma had to dress as a boy to go to a cricket academy as there were no facilities for girls to play.

She has said that she was inspired to take up the game after going to watch Tendulkar play.