India clinched the inaugural edition of the ICC U-19 Women’s T20 World Cup after a dominating 7-wicket win over England in the final played at the JB Marks Oval in Potchefstroom, on Sunday.
A quiet chase was followed after a spectacular new-ball performance as India defeated England in the final, sealing their victory by 7 wickets with six overs to spare.
After winning the toss and deciding to put England in to bat, India’s bowlers justified their captain’s decision with an impressive bowling performance.
The England top order was dismantled by India’s right-arm pacer Titas Sadhu (2/6) and off-spinner Archana Devi (2/17), restricting them to just 22/4 after six overs, which also included the wicket of their in-form batter and skipper Grace Scrivens on 4 from 12 balls.
18-year-old Sadhu gave just six runs bowling her four overs straight and picking up two wickets. On the other hand, Devi was a bit more expensive, but her two wickets included the crucial dismissals of Scrivens and Niamh Holland (10).
Despite some resistance shown by Ryana MacDonald-Gay who scored 19 off 24 balls with three fours, England failed to play out their full allocated 20 overs with wickets falling at regular intervals.
𝗖.𝗛.𝗔.𝗠.𝗣.𝗜.𝗢.𝗡.𝗦!
Meet the winners of the inaugural #U19T20WorldCup
INDIA #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/ljtScy6MXb
— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) January 29, 2023
India bundled out England’s innings at a below-par score of 68 in 17.1 overs with 17 balls remaining, leaving India a small target of just 69 to win.
England defeated Australia in a thrilling semi-final by a small margin of 3 runs and defended a target of 99, but such things don’t happen every other day.
In reply, India skipper Shafali Verma looked in a hurry to finish off the game and started the innings aggressively with her 15 from 11 balls, hitting one four and a six. However, both the openers were removed soon as Shafali was caught off Hannah Baker while her opening partner Shweta Sehrawat was dismissed on 5 off 6 balls by off-spinner Scrivens.
After the initial setback, Soumya Tiwari and Gongadi Trisha stitched a crucial 46-run partnership for the third wicket to settle things down and take India from 20/2 to 66/3.
The duo almost took India home with just one hit away from the target when Trisha was cleaned up by Alexa Stonehouse.
However, India didn’t have to wait long enough as Soumya completed the winning run by sensibly knocking a single to take her side home on the big stage.
Trisha scored 24 off 29, including three fours while Soumya remained unbeaten on 24 off 37 balls, hitting three fours.
For England, Hannah baker (1/13), Grace Scrivens (1/13) and Alexa Stonehouse (1/8) took one wicket each but it wasn’t enough to defend a small total of just 68.
Titas Sadhu bowled an excellent economical spell with bowling figures of 2-6 & bagged the Player of the Match award as #TeamIndia are crowned champions of the inaugural #U19T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/srB6cQXY2a
— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) January 29, 2023
Right-arm pacer Titas Sadhu was awarded Player of the Match for her match-winning figures of 2/6 from her four overs while England skipper Grace Scrivens was named Player of the Series for scoring 293 runs and taking 9 wickets in the tournament.
With this, India won the inaugural edition of the ICC U-19 Women’s T20 World Cup ending their quest for a maiden title in International women’s cricket.
Brief scores: England 68 all out in 17.1 overs (Ryana Macdonald-Gay 19, Titas Sadhu 2-6, Parshavi Chopra 2-13) lost to India 69/3 in 14 overs (Soumya Tiwari 24 not out, Gongadi Trisha 24; Hannah Baker 1-13, Grace Scrivens 1-13) by seven wickets.
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