India Wins ICC U19 Women’s T20 World Cup; Match Highlights, INR 5 Crore Reward, BCCI Introduces WPL

Story Highlights: The India U19 (Under 19) Women’s team has made nation proud with their spectacular performance at the ICC U-19 Women’s T20 World Cup.

The Shafali Verma-led team showed incredible skill and tenacity to overcome the obstacles and secure their place in history by defeating England in the championship game to win the first-ever edition of the competition.

India has won a women’s cricket world championship for the first time in history, and this accomplishment will live long in the memory.

In the championship game, they were unmatched as the spinners took the initiative at first and the batters rose to the occasion to seal the deal. India won the inaugural U-19 Women’s T20 World Cup by seven wickets in the championship match.

ICC U19 Women’s T20 World Cup: Highlights

Titas Sadhu and Archana Devi, who jolted the English lineup, were the catalyst for everything. Later, the other bowlers joined the fray with the aid of some outstanding fielding.

When England was bowled out for only 68, the openers—especially Shafali Verma—had made a strong showing. Although England took a few wickets, Soumya Tiwari and G Trisha helped India maintain its lead. India had six overs remaining and had won by seven wickets.

India’s incredibly long wait for a women’s cricket World Cup victory is now over. Nooshin Al Khadeer had helped India finish as runners-up in the Women’s World Cup in South Africa (2005), it was appropriate that after 18 years Nooshin Al Khadeer served as the women’s U19 team head coach.

India defeated England to win the first Under-19 Women’s T20 World Cup in JB Marks Oval in Potchefstroom thanks to an athletic effort on the field, some disciplined bowling, and a canter with the bat.

To dismiss England for 68, three bowlers—fast bowler Titas Sadhu, off-spinner Archana Devi, and leg spinner Parshavi Chopra—each claimed two wickets. Then, the team led by Shafali Verma was ecstatic as Soumya Tiwari and G Trisha put an end to the chase.

PM Narendra Modi and other Indian leaders including dignitaries across the nation congratulated the team on their historic triumph in light of India’s outstanding victory. The girls received a ton of praise for their competitive play throughout the competition.

Shafali started the chase for 69 by hitting a huge six over long off left-arm spinner Sophia Smale.

England’s Hannah Baker opened the bowling with Sophia Smale and took the wicket of Shafali but failed to seize the victory which was swiftly sliding from the grip of England.

Throughout the competition, Hannah Baker dazzled with a variety of flights and lengths. Shweta Sehrawat, the competition’s top run scorer, was soon directed by England captain Grace Scrivens to sky one to short fine leg to induce momentary flutters.

However, One-drop Soumya Tiwari and G Trisha later left to calm the crowd’s fears with a little luck, they also managed to fend off Baker, Smale, and Scrivens’ challenging spells.

After that, Tiwari and Trisha tightened up and never gave England’s all-spin attack a chance to succeed, scoring until the 10th over, when they were 48 for 2. Trisha responded to right-arm fast bowler Ellie Anderson with back-to-back boundaries but her awkward heave, however, caused her to be clean-bowled when three were needed.

However, Tiwari was too established and skilled—having guided Madhya Pradesh to the Under-19 domestic T20 championship—to allow things to fall apart from there.

With the help of three half-centuries, Shweta Sehrawat scored 297 runs, which put her at the top of the leaderboard. Parshavi Chopra was India’s leading wicket-taker at the time, with 11 wickets in six games.

Titas Sadhu of India celebrates after being selected Player of the Match in the ICC Women’s U19 T20 World Cup 2023 Final match.

England captain and superb all-rounder Grace Scrivens was crowned Player of the Tournament following a string of great displays with both bat and ball.

Also read| How India won the U19 Women’s T20 World Cup

Runner Up: England U19 Women’s Team Struggles With Their Batting

Through the tournament, England’s opening pair of Liberty Heap and Grace Scrivens performed admirably, but Heap fell early, just as she did in the semifinal. In the very first over of the game, after India decided to bowl, Titas Sadhu got a length ball to climb up, and Heap ultimately top-edged it for Sadhu to take an easy catch.

Instead of Mannat Kashyap, India’s preferred left-arm spinner, Archana opened the bowling. She then struck to spin one past Niamh Holland’s attempted scoop to bowl her. By cheaply dismissing Scrivens, the only other player in the tournament with more than 250 runs besides Sehwarat, with Trisha taking a tumbling catch running in from long-off, she delivered a significant blow.

As the score continued to rise, Sophia Smale hit a couple of fours, but she was the last wicket to be dismissed when she spooned a catch back to left-arm spinner Sonam Yadav.

Even though England had effectively guarded 99 against Australia in the semifinals, 68 was far too low to do that.

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BCCI Announced 5 Crore INR Cash Reward

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced a monetary prize of INR 5 Crore for the successful India U-19 squad and members of the support staff after the Indian women’s team won the first U19 World Cup. Jay Shah, the BCCI secretary, congratulated the team on Twitter and revealed the prize money.

This accomplishment also demonstrates the length and breadth of cricket ability talent in the nation and bodes well as we approach the much-anticipated debut season of the Women’s Premier League (WPL), which will boost interest in women’s cricket.

BCCI Introduces Women’s Premier League (WPL)

The fact that the WPL franchise and television rights were recently sold for meteoric amounts makes BCCI’s offering of the top prize money all the more noteworthy.

The five franchises’ rights were sold for a total valuation of $572 million (Rs 4669.99 crore), shattering the previous record from the first season of the men’s IPL.

Meanwhile, Viacom 18 paid $116.7 million for the media rights to the WPL for five years (2023–2027), with the cost of a single match falling to around $857,000.

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History Of ICC Under-19 Women’s T20 World Cup

The International Cricket Council (ICC) organizes the ICC Under-19 Women’s Cricket World Cup, an international cricket competition that features the national women’s under-19 teams. Matches were contested in the T20 format at the inaugural event, which took place in South Africa in January 2023.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the competition was postponed from January 2021 to December 2021. But the competition was again postponed for 2^nd time, to January 2023.

The victory in the title match is yet another indication that women’s cricket in India is blossoming. Thanks to BCCI and Indian cricket fans across the world.