The young Under-19 Indian team scripted history after defeating England in the highly-anticipated Women’s U19 T20 World Cup final to become the world champions. The contest was completely dominated by the Women in Blue, with bowlers grabbing the headlines.
The likes of Titas Sadhu (2/6), Archana Devi (2/17) and Parshavi Chopra (2/13) all bagged two wickets each as India bundled out the English side for a mere 68 in 17.1 overs before completing the chase in 14 overs. Soumya Tiwari and Gongadi Trisha stitched a 46-run partnership for the third wicket to kill the game convincingly.
Following the historic triumph, Indian skipper Shafali Verma failed to control her emotions and broke down during the post-match presentation ceremony. Shafali was left moist-eyed as she thanked everyone, including the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), for extending their support throughout the campaign.
“Thanks to the staff, the way they have been backing us every day and telling us that we are here for the cup, and because of them, we are here—all thanks to them. The players have been backing me a lot. Thanks to BCCI for giving me this beautiful team, and really happy for winning the cup,” said Shafali.
Here is the video:
emotional shafali Verma after winning the final 🥺🥺 🏆🇮🇳🇮🇳 #U19T20WorldCup #indvseng pic.twitter.com/U8G7K1U43j
— sameer khan⁴⁵ (@Mohamma79230816) January 29, 2023
Notably, Shafali was part of India’s squad that lost to the mighty Australian team in the 2020 T20 World Cup final at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). Shafli, who was just 17 years old back then, was seen crying that night. She spoke about that final and said those were tears due to sadness; today, the tears are of happiness.
“Melbourne was a very emotional day for me in that final game, we didn’t win the game. When I joined the Under-19 team, I’m just thinking, ‘you know, we have to win this Cup.’ I’m just telling all the girls, ‘We have to win this Cup, we are here for the Cup.’ We had lost the World Cup, and it was tears of sadness. Today, they were tears of happiness because we achieved what we came here for. I tried controlling it, but it couldn’t happen. I will look at this as a big achievement and look to use this to learn something more,” added Shafali.
