India men's head coach Rahul Dravid lauded the U19 Women's team for winning the inaugural U19 Women's T20 World Cup trophy in South Africa, calling the victory a landmark moment for women's cricket in the country.
At the JB Marks Oval in Potchefstroom on Sunday, Shafali Verma & Co produced a superb bowling performance coupled with some outstanding fielding to bowl out England for just 68.
Fast bowler Titas Sadhu, off-spinner Archana Devi and leg-spinner Parshavi Chopra were accurate in their line, length and found enough help to pick two wickets each.
Shafali, left-arm spinners Mannat Kashyap and Sonam Yadav took a scalp each in a dominating bowling performance. "Today was a landmark day for the Indian women's U19 team.
I would like to pass it on to U19 Men's captain to deliver a message for the girls," said Dravid, who had won the 2018 Men's U19 World Cup as head coach, in a video posted by BCCI.
He passed on the mic to his 2018 Men's U19 World Cup-winning skipper Prithvi Shaw. "I think it is a great achievement. Congratulations, well done," said Shaw after which the entire Indian men's T20I team cheered aloud for the U19 women's team in unison.
The fielding, despite a few blips, was athletic with some exceptional catches taken by Archana and Gongadi Trisha as England never got going with the bat. In chasing 69, on a slow pitch aiding spinners, India lost Shafali and Shweta Sehrawat in the first four overs.
But Soumya Tiwari (24 not out) and Gongadi Trisha (24) shared a vital 46-run stand for the third wicket to complete the chase in 14 overs and give India their first-ever World Cup title in women's cricket.
It was a dominating campaign for India barring the seven-wicket defeat to Australia in the Super Sixes. At the helm of it was head coach Nooshin Al Khadeer, who was a part of the India squad who came runners-up to Australia in the 2005 ODI World Cup final.
Now, 18 years later, she finally won a World Cup with the India U19 team, as their coach.