ICC U19 Women's T20 World Cup: Senior India cricketers hail Shafali Verma and Co. for making history

Add as a preferred source on Google

Potchefstroom, Jan 29: Indian Under-19 team created history on Sunday (January 29) at Senwes Park and blew England away with a clinical display to be crowned champions of the inaugural edition of ICC U-19 Women's T20 World Cup.

The Girls in Blue first bundled out England for 68 in 17.1 overs to make the contest one-sided. They overhauled the target inside 14 overs and won the game by a margin of 7 wickets to lift the coveted trophy.

The win also reaffirms India's dominance at the U-19 level with the boys winning the world title in the Caribbean last year.

Pacer Titas Sadhu, who was brilliantly supported by leg-spinner Parshavi Chopra, set up the comprehensive win for their team.

While Sadhu - who bowled 20 dot balls from her quota of four overs - proved that Indian women's pace bowling is in safe hands following the retirement of Jhulan Goswami when she returned with impressive figures of 4-0-6-2.

Chopra - who is the second leading wicket-taker in the tournament - too continued her dream run as she snapped two for 13. Archana Devi also scalped 2 for 17, while Mannat Kashyap (1/13), Shafali(1/16) and Sonam Yadav (1/3) accounted for one wicket each as England girls were all at sea after being asked to take the first strike.

India has been waiting for this moment for a long time, said chief coach Nooshin Al Khadeer after her team lifted their maiden ICC trophy, adding that the T20 world cup triumph underlines the country's enormous depth of talent.

It was also te first-ever ICC trophy for the Indian Women's Cricket team. "It is a fabulous feeling. This is the feeling we have been waiting for very long. This is the first time we won the cup and it has come with the U-19 kids. Just shows the kind of depth we have and what is there for us in the future," she said after the match.

Indian cricket fraternity was buoyed by the U-19 girls' achievement Down Under and seniors from men's and women's teams congratulated Shafali Verma and her spirited band of teenagers.

Here's who said what?

Rohit Sharma

Smriti Mandhana

Virat Kohli

Mithali Raj

Virender Sehwag

Sourav Ganguly

Jay Shah

Venkatesh Prasad

Robin Uthappa

Neeraj Chopra