Batting sensation Shafali Verma will chase history when she leads India against England in their first-ever ICC U-19 Women’s T20 World Cup final here on Sunday.
For all their success at the international stage, the Indian women’s cricket team has never won an ICC World Cup at any level and the young batter, who has been part of two World Cups and one Commonwealth Games final with the senior team, will look to bring the elusive title home.
The seniors have made the World Cup final on three occasions across formats only to have returned with bitter memories — losing to Australia by 98 runs in 2005 and losing to England by 9 runs in 2017 in the ODIs, while in T20Is they went down in the 2020 final to the Aussies by 85 runs.
The youngster from Rohtak has been part of two World Cups across formats and she also witnessed another final defeat when India had settled for a silver medal in last year’s Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
Shafali, however, doesn’t want to let go the opportunity this time. “Haan bahut finals khela hai (Yes, I’ve played a lot of finals and seen it all),” Shafali, who turned 19 on Saturday, said on the eve of the final. “It’s about going out there and enjoying the game. I’ve told the teammates ‘don’t stress, just give your 100 per cent without thinking of it as the final. Just believe in yourself.’ “It’s all past and that cannot be recreated. We are determined to bring the World Cup this time and are trying to improve day by day,” she added.
India suffered one defeat in the Super Six league stage where they lost to their ‘nemesis’ Australia after being bowled out for 87.
“We had nervous moments and couldn’t sleep, thinking about whether we could make the final or not... But we have learnt from the mistakes and here we are. Now we’re all very confident, clear of our roles.”
Shafali has told her teammates not to think of her as the “senior”.
“I may be senior to many of them but I’ve told them ‘on the ground we all are equal’ it’s about keeping everyone comfortable,” she said.
In the semi-final, India registered an eight-wicket win after their bowlers restricted a powerful New Zealand side to an under-par 107/9. Shweta Sehrawat finished unbeaten on 61 as India cantered home in 14.2 overs.
They will face a strong England side that topped their Super Six group by winning all the four matches. They suffered a batting collapse in the semi-final against Australia when they folded for 99 in 19.5 overs. But they restricted Australia to 96 in 18.4 overs.
Neeraj support
Neeraj Chopra, who won the javelin gold at the Tokyo Olympics, met the U-19 cricketers to inspire them on the eve of the final.
Final today: India Women U-19 vs England Women U-19, 5.15pm IST, live on Star Sports Network
Written with PTI inputs
