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India – A cut above the rest at ICC U19 Women’s T20 World Cup

Nishant T 4



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As Sanika Chalke dragged the ball to the square leg boundary off the inner half of her bat, celebrations erupted in the Indian dressing room.

The players, waiting just beside the boundary line for the past few minutes, rushed into the field. Some even wrapped up in the national flag.

It was not the best shot played in the match; not even the best played by Chalke at the Bayuemas Ovas in Kuala Lumpur. But it was enough.

India had just defended their ICC U19 Women’s T20 World Cup crown by beating South Africa, bagging the title for the second time in as many editions.

“I can’t explain how I feel; dreamt of it for the last two years,” Chalke told the broadcasters just moments later.

For Chalke, 19, it was her first World Cup win. She had just about missed the Indian team for the inaugural edition of the tournament two years back. Scoring the winning runs at the Bayuemas Ovas was vindictive for the teenager.

However, for many others, it was about letting the world know that they belonged.

Trisha Gongadi, for example, was a part of the winning Indian team two years ago. She struggled throughout the tournament then in a team loaded with international superstars Shafali Verma and Richa Ghosh.

In Malaysia, she put it all behind to score an unbeaten 44 off 33 in the final, opening the batting. She also bagged three wickets for just 15 runs in the contest, winning the Player of the Match award in the title clash.

Trisha was named Player of the Tournament as well for her 309 runs and seven wickets in the competition. She also scored the first and only century of the ICC U19 Women’s T20 World Cup, smashing an unbeaten 110 against Scotland in the Super Six stage.

Pacer Shabnam Shakil, who warmed the bench during the final two years ago, led the pack this time around and scalped the important wicket of opener Jemma Botha – the tournament’s fifth-highest run scorer in just the fourth over.

Left-arm spinner Sonam Yadav also lifted her second World Cup Trophy though she did not feature in the final, unlike the previous edition. But that was because India had three spinners, who made the world dance to their tunes over the last fortnight, on their side.

Spin to win

If India had the world at their feet, Vaishnavi Sharma, Aayushi Shukla, and Parunika Sisodia – all three left-arm spinners – made it happen.

The trio comprised the top four wicket-takers in the tournament, choking the opposition batters down with their immaculate accuracy and prizing out wickets at will. They combined for six wickets in the final – all pocketing a two-wicket haul apiece.

Sharma finished as the highest wicket-taker in the tournament with 17 scalps, even becoming the first Indian bowler to take a hat-trick in the tournament. Shukla followed closely behind with 14 wickets, while Sisodia struck ten times.

Together, they ensured, that their batters always had it easy. The only contest where India let the opposition touch the three-digit mark with the bat was the semi-final, where England huffed and puffed to 113/8 in their 20 overs.

Even then, the women in blue cruised to book a spot in the final, chasing down the target with five overs to spare.

The opposition’s scores in the six other matches against India in the tournament read: 44/10 (West Indies), 31/10 (Malaysia), 58/9 (Sri Lanka), 64/8 (Bangladesh), 58/10 (Scotland), and 82/10 (South Africa).

The spin trio of Sharma, Shukla, and Sisodia were deadly on pitches which provided them a fair bit of assistance in Malaysia as they led India to the title triumph unbeaten.

India celebrate after winning the 2025 ICC Women’s U19 T20 World Cup (Photo credit: ICC/Twitter)

Openers to the fore

If Indians dominated the bowling charts, the two-time winners also had a strong presence in the leading run scorers list. Both the team’s openers featured in the top three run scorers of the tournament.

Trisha was by far the best batter, ending the tournament as the leading scorer at an average of 77.25 and a strike rate of 147.14 – the highest in the tournament. She was 133 runs clear of the second-highest scorer Davina Sarah T Perrin, who scored 176 runs in the competition.

Trisha’s opening partner, wicketkeeper G Kamalini scored 143 runs in total to finish third in the run scorer’s list.

Chalke, who scored the winning runs in the final, scored just 95 runs but she was the sixth highest in the run-scoring charts.

Chalke finished with the highest batting average in the tournament – an astonishing 95. Trisha was second in this list, followed by Kamalini, who scored at an average of 35.75.

Between the likes of spinners not letting the opposition score and openers Trisha, and Kamalini scoring runs for fun, the others including Chalke, skipper Niki Prasad had limited opportunities with the bat in the tournament.

The dominance was such that no Indian batter outside the top four was required to bat more than once in the tournament.

Even Niki, who bats at far, was required to render her services only twice – the first during the match against Sri Lanka, where India lost eight wickets and the other against Bangladesh, where she was required to play a grand total of two balls.

“We did not get a lot of opportunities with the bat, so the focus was on contributing elsewhere,” Chalke had said after the final.

The contributions did come in elsewhere as India emerged as the best fielding outfit as well in the competition.

The likes of Chalke, Sisodia, Mithila Vinod, and others were exceptional with their ground fielding and catching. Mithila, in particular, stood out during the semi-final against England, diving around the ground to save runs.

India eased to the title with seven wins in as many matches. They were challenged, at least, in the inaugural edition back in 2023, but in Kuala Lumpur, no team had any answers to the questions they posed.

They struck wickets when they wanted, they scored runs when they needed, and they saved runs as they wished.

To put it simply, India were a cut above the rest at the 2025 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup.





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