On Sunday, India defeated England in the inaugural ICC U-19 Women’s T20 World Cup final. India lost Shafali Verma and Shweta Sehrawat early in the chase after scoring a meagre 69. However, G Trisha and Soumya Tiwari established a strong combination to lead India home.
In the first-ever ICC U-19 Women’s T20 World Cup final held here on Sunday, India’s bowling attack—led by pace wonder Titas Sadhu and leg-spinner Parshavi Chopra—dished out an outstanding performance to dismiss England for 68.
With outstanding numbers of 4-0-6-2, Sadhu demonstrated that the Indian women’s fast bowling is in good hands following the departure of Jhulan Goswami, and Chopra gave a sufficient demonstration of her skill by taking two for 13.
Along with Mannat Kashyap (1/13), Shafali Verma (1/16), and Sonam Yadav (1/3) who each claimed one wicket, Archana Devi also claimed two for seventeen.
India, who chose to bowl, came out with a clear strategy and carried it out flawlessly, preventing England’s innings from truly taking off when it was reduced to 16 for three in four overs.
In her four overs allotted to her, Sadhu bowled 20 dot balls before removing Liberty Heap with an outstanding caught-and-bowled effort on the fourth ball of the innings (0).
Archana, a spinner, next dismissed Niamh Fiona Holland (10), then Gongadi Trisha made an incredible catch to dismiss Grace Scrivens (4), giving Archana her second wicket.
Sadhu had the opportunity to increase her wicket total, but senior pro Richa Ghosh lost a catch of Ryana Macdonald Gay after she edged a ball that was travelling away from her.
However, the Bengal pacer didn’t have to wait much longer because she was the next to enter Seren Smale (3)’s gates.
In order to relieve some of the pressure, Macdonald Gay hit the fence a number of times. However, in-form leg-spinner Chopra then joined the fray and trapped Charis Pavely (2) in front of the wicket, causing England to lose half of their team for 39 in 10 overs.
The other end was kept in check by left-arm spinner Kashyap as Chopra removed Gay with Archana making a stunning one-handed grab. Shafali, the captain, called herself in as England was reeling at 46 for 6 in 12 overs, but Alexa Stonehouse hit her for a rare boundary.
When Josephine Groves was well out of position due to Soumya Tiwari’s powerful strike, England was left at 53 for 7.
Then Richa and Shafali worked together to further humiliate England, with the latter putting out a stumping effort. Sonam took a dolly at cover to help Kashyap remove Stonehouse, while Sonam later caught and bowled Sophia Smale.
At any level, the Indian women’s cricket team has never won a World Cup. The senior team failed to get past the semifinals in three different World Cups.
