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NEW DELHI: Having led India to title triumph in the U-19 T20 World Cup in Potchefstroom on Sunday, Shafali Verma now wants to win the T20 World Cup title with the senior team too.
The Women’s T20
World Cup gets underway from February 10 in South Africa and Shafali, 19 wants to make the visit even more memorable with another silverware.
“No, the big one also,” Shafali said when asked if the U-19 trophy was the only one she was hoping to take back from South Africa.
“I am someone who focuses on task at hand. When I entered the Under-19s, I only focused on winning the Under-19 Cup and we have won that today (Sunday).
“I will look to take this winning confidence with me and win the senior World Cup. I will try and forget this and get involved with the senior setup and gel with the team and win the World Cup,” she was quoted as saying by the ICC.
India on Sunday won their maiden ICC title in women’s cricket as a bunch of supremely talented teenagers lifted the inaugural U-19 World Cup with a seven-wicket victory over England.
The Shafali-led India squad managed to do what their seniors could not by clearing the final hurdle in a global event.
India first bundled out England for 68 in 17.1 overs and then returned to knock off the paltry target in 14 overs to lift the coveted trophy.
Shafali was part of India’s squad that fell at the final hurdle at the 2020 T20 World Cup, when Australia defeated the side by 85 runs in front of more than 85,000 fans at the MCG.
She said she still feels the pain from the loss.
“Melbourne was a very emotional day for me in that final game, we didn’t win the game,” Shafali recalled.
“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. I will try to score more runs for India and am not going to be satisfied with this Cup. This is just the beginning.”
(With PTI inputs)
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India win inaugural Women’s U-19 T20 World Cup with thumping win over England
Show Captions
India won their maiden ICC title in women’s cricket as a bunch of sprightly and talented teenagers lifted the inaugural U-19 World Cup with an emphatic seven-wicket victory over England.
The Shafali Verma-led India U-19 squad managed to do what their seniors could not do by clearing the final hurdle in a global event.
India first bundled out England for 68 in 17.1 overs and then returned to knock off the paltry target in 14 overs to lift the coveted trophy.
India skipper Shafali credited the support staff for all the effort.
India’s bowling attack, led by pacer Titas Sadhu, set up the comprehensive win on Sunday as they blew England away with a clinical display at Senwes Park.
Sadhu showed that Indian women pace bowling is in safe hands following the retirement of Jhulan Goswami with impressive figures of 4-0-6-2.
Leg-spinner Parshavi Chopra continued her dream run as she snapped two for 13 and gave an able support to Sadhu.
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 were all at sea after being asked to take first strike.
Following a pep talk from India’s Olympic champion javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, India came out with a specific plan and executed it perfectly as England’s innings never really took off after being reduced to 16 for three in four overs.
Chasing 69, Shafali started with a boundary off Hannah Baker before launching Sophia Smale for a maximum. But Baker came back to get rid of the India skipper, who was caught by Alexa Stonehouse in the 3rd over.
Team’s best batter in the tournament, Shweta Sehrawat, also was back in the hut after giving a simple catch to Baker off Grace Scrivens in the fourth over.
Soumya Tiwari (24 not out) and Gongadi Trisha (24) then dug their heels in with a 46-run partnership.
With four runs needed, Trisha was cleaned up by Stonehouse, as Tiwari knocked off the winning runs.
Earlier, Sadhu bowled 20 dot balls in her quota of four overs. She struck in the fourth ball of the innings with a superb caught and bowled effort to get rid of Liberty Heap (0).
Spinner Archana then cleaned up Niamh Fiona Holland (10), while Gongadi Trisha pulled off a sensational catch to get rid of Grace Scrivens (4) to hand Archana her second wicket.
Ryana Macdonald Gay played a couple of hits to the fence to ease the pressure.
In-form leggie Parshavi then got into the act, trapping Charis Pavely (2) in front of the wicket as England lost half their side for 39 in 10 overs.
Left-arm spinner Kashyap also kept things tight at the other end as Chopra removed Macdonald Gay with Archana taking a superb one-handed catch with a full dive at extra cover. India’s fielding was exemplary in the big game.
While Shafali had a modest outing with the bat, fellow opener Sehrawat emerged as the highest run-getter with 297 runs at an average of 99.
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