Landmark day for India women's U-19 team: Rahul Dravid on inaugural T20 World Cup victory
Lucknow, Jan 30, 2023, IANS
India men's head coach Rahul Dravid lauded the U19 Women's team for winning the inaugural U19 Women's T20 World Cup trophy in South Africa, calling the victory a landmark moment for women's cricket in the country.
At the JB Marks Oval in Potchefstroom on Sunday, Shafali Verma & Co produced a superb bowling performance coupled with some outstanding fielding to bowl out England for just 68.
Fast bowler Titas Sadhu, off-spinner Archana Devi and leg-spinner Parshavi Chopra were accurate in their line, length and found enough help to pick two wickets each. Shafali, left-arm spinners Mannat Kashyap and Sonam Yadav took a scalp each in a dominating bowling performance.
"Today was a landmark day for the Indian women's U19 team. I would like to pass it on to U19 Men's captain to deliver a message for the girls," said Dravid, who had won the 2018 Men's U19 World Cup as head coach, in a video posted by BCCI.
He passed on the mic to his 2018 Men's U19 World Cup-winning skipper Prithvi Shaw. "I think it is a great achievement. Congratulations, well done," said Shaw after which the entire Indian men's T20I team cheered aloud for the U19 women's team in unison.
The fielding, despite a few blips, was athletic with some exceptional catches taken by Archana and Gongadi Trisha as England never got going with the bat. In chasing 69, on a slow pitch aiding spinners, India lost Shafali and Shweta Sehrawat in the first four overs.
But Soumya Tiwari (24 not out) and Gongadi Trisha (24) shared a vital 46-run stand for the third wicket to complete the chase in 14 overs and give India their first-ever World Cup title in women's cricket.
It was a dominating campaign for India barring the seven-wicket defeat to Australia in the Super Sixes. At the helm of it was head coach Nooshin Al Khadeer, who was a part of the India squad who came runners-up to Australia in the 2005 ODI World Cup final. Now, 18 years later, she finally won a World Cup with the India U19 team, as their coach.