An exciting final capped off what was a brilliant tournament. The progress of women’s cricket was halted owing to the pandemic but in the 2022-23 BCCI Domestic Calendar, the welcome addition of the U19 One Day Trophy has been nothing short of remarkable. The league phase of the tournament was played from 7th December to 14th December whereas the knockouts were played from 17th December to 23rd December. In the league phase of the tournament, we had 36 teams competing against each other and we witnessed some highly competitive matches and flashes of brilliance from the young girls who wanted to make a statement.
Mumbai and Uttarakhand had consistent runs in this tournament in the league phase and were able to translate the same in the knockout phases as well. Reflecting on the journeys of both the teams, Uttrakhand, in the pre-quarterfinals, got the better of Tamil Nadu and in the quarter-finals, they defeated Uttar Pradesh, in the semi-finals, they defeated Andhra Pradesh. Mumbai, on the other hand, defeated Baroda in the quarter-finals, they defeated Delhi and in the semi-finals, they defeated Maharashtra.
Uttarakhand defeated Mumbai in the Finals of the Women’s U19 One-Day Trophy earlier today. #CricketTwitter pic.twitter.com/2bDpoACimp
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) December 23, 2022
The finals of the tournament had Mumbai and Uttarakhand square off against each other. Mumbai won the toss and decided to bat first. Batting first, Mumbai was dismissed for a dismal 93 of just 42.3 overs. The batting collapse was thanks to the brilliant bowling performance of Uttarakhand who had Sakshi and Pooja Raj scalp 3 wickets each with Jigyasa, Raghvi and Nisha Mishra also chipping in with a wicket apiece. Uttarakhand has just 94 to chase but the finals was not without drama as their opener, Dipika was dismissed for a first-ball duck. Eventually, an anchored knock of 19 by A Shah helped the proceedings with Raghvi and Neelam scoring the bulk of the runs with their 33 and 30* respectively steadied the ship for Uttarakhand and sailed them across to victory.
The tournament at large had a lot of bright spots but Sanika Chalke scored 600 runs in 8 matches (with a brilliant 200*), Raghvi scored 475 runs in 9 matches (with her remarkable 219*), Muskan Sinha with 323 runs in 6 matches, Tanmayee Behera with 313 runs from 5 matches and Dharti with 305 runs from 7 matches as the top 5 run-getters. The top 5 wicket takers were Zeal Dmello with 21 wickets, Pooja Raj with 21 wickets, Priya Mishra with 18 wickets, Sakshi with 18 wickets and Vaishnavi Sharma with 16 wickets.
All in all, the league presented an opportunity for youngsters to showcase their talent and stake their claim in their senior domestic sides and the national team which is the pinnacle. With the Women’s IPL also looming, they will be looking to make inroads into the various teams.
I am a first year postgraduate student pursuing a MA in Media and Communication Studies at Christ University, Bengaluru. I am a podcaster, blogger and an avid cricket fan. When not glued to cricket matches, you can find me submerged in books and thinking about cricket all the time.