The India Under-19 women’s team on the 29th of January scripted history having claimed the silverware in the inaugural edition of the International Cricket Council (ICC) Under-19 Women’s Twenty (T20) World Cup. The historic win by the U-19 women’s side happened to be the first-ever World Cup win for the Indian women’s team.
The Shafali Verma-led Indian side in the tournament looked a class above the rest and fitting so went on to lift the cup. India in their round 1 games, topped their Group D points table with wins against South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, and Scotland. The hat-trick of victories saw them accumulate 6 points at a very healthy Net Run Rate (NRR) of +4.039.
India cruised to the Super Six stage and suffered their only defeat of the tournament in the opener against Australia. The side went on to register a commanding win over Sri Lanka and having topped the points table with a better NRR of +2.844 advanced to the Semi-Final where they met, New Zealand who until then were unbeaten in the tournament.
In the knockout stage, the Semi-Final between India and New Zealand saw the former make the unbeaten, New Zealand look ordinary on the day, and with yet another commanding win stormed to the Final of the World Cup where they met England, the other unbeaten side up until then. India yet again registered a dictating win to claim the glory and handed the English the New Zealand dose with their only defeat in the campaign directly in the knockout on the big day.
Mithali Raj is all praises for the U19 head coach, Nooshin Al Khadeer
🤩🤩#CricketTwitter #U19T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/e5sfkFCxOD— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) January 30, 2023
India head coach, Nooshin Al Khadeer, spoke to Sportstar on India’s win, stating, “This is like a dream come true moment for all the people back home, who were expecting us to win. I believe things would change for women’s cricket back home, and it was very important for these girls to have one ICC Trophy.”
“India’s win rightly was widely celebrated as congratulatory messages for the team poured in from both former and active, male and female cricketers, to celebrities to top government officials, everyone took a moment to appreciate the heroics of the Under-19 bunch.
This World Cup win was always meant to be for India and the writing was on the wall. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) deserves a lot of credit here for the way in recent years it has strengthened the domestic circuit and organized a packed lead-up for the Under-19 Women’s bunch with games against both domestic and international teams.
India’s win streak in the lead-up to the event did certain the trophy was coming home but to’ve actually gone on to make it a living reality, especially in the dictating fashion they did against the unbeaten sides, New Zealand and England in the Semi-Final and Final, speaks volumes about the team’s preparation both mentally and physically.
Female Cricket on behalf of all fellow citizens would like to congratulate the team on displaying dictating heroics now just in the knockouts but throughout the campaign and we believe this only is the start of the Indian women’s team racking up the trophy cabinet. Very well-done girls, the monkeys off the back with the first.