Follow UsIndia proved the mettle of its age-group pathway system once again by winning the second edition of the ICC U19 Women’s T20 World Cup. India had already won the inaugural edition, held in 2023 in South Africa under Shafali Verma's leadership, and now they defended that title under Niki Prasad.
South Africa had chosen to bat first in the heavily attended final in Kuala Lumpur, hoping to put up a strong total. However, the Indian bowlers hardly allowed them to stomp their authority, with some immaculate bowling to keep them under check constantly.
The troika of left-arm spinners - Parunika Sisodia, Vaishnavi Sharma and Aayushi Shukla - didn’t allow the Proteas batters to settle at all and picked six wickets in between them while giving only 38 runs. G Trisha bowled her leg-spin brilliantly to end with figures of 3/15, and eventually, no Proteas could cross 25, and the team was 82 all out by the end of 20 overs.
India chased down the target with ease. The tournament’s leading run scorer, Trisha, was batting in fine form yet again and scored 44* off 33 deliveries to earn the Player of the Match for her all-round performance. Sanika Chalke scored 26 off 22 to ensure India easily finished the chase and lifted their second Women’s U19 World Cup in a row.
India were dominant throughout the tournament and didn’t lose a single game. In fact, their net run rate in the Super Sixes stages was +5.7, which was +2.5 points higher than the second-best team, South Africa. Then, they dominated England in the semifinal and South Africa in the final to easily lift the trophy.
Vaishnavi Sharma was the leading wicket-taker of the tournament, with 17 wickets. Trisha, meanwhile, earned the Player of the Tournament award for her stellar performance with the bat. She scored a record 309 runs in just seven innings and contributed with the ball in both knockout games.
Trisha, Shabnam, and Sonam Yadav were also part of India’s last U19 World Cup-winning squad in South Africa.