Potchefstroom: India’s bowling attack, led by pace sensation Titas Sadhu and leg-spinner Parshavi Chopra, dished out a superlative performance to bundle out England for 68 in the first-ever ICC U-19 Women’s T20 World Cup final here Sunday.
While Sadhu showed that the Indian women pace bowling is in safe hands following the exit of Jhulan Goswami with impressive figures of 4-0-6-2, Chopra too gave ample display of her prowess as she snapped two for 13.
Archana Devi also scalped 2 for 17, while Mannat Kashyap (1/13), Shafali Verma (1/16) and Sonam Yadav (1/3) accounted for one wicket each.
Opting to bowl, 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.
Sadhu bowled 20 dot balls in her quota of four overs, striking in the fourth ball of the innings with a superb caught and bowl 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.
Sadhu could have added another wicket to her name but senior pro Richa Ghosh dropped a regulation catch of Ryana Macdonald Gay, who had edged an away going ball.
The Bengal pacer, however, didn’t have to wait longer as she went through the gates of Seren Smale (3) next.
Macdonald Gay played a couple of hits to the fence to ease the pressure but in-form leg-spinner Chopra then got into the act, trapping Charis Pavely (2) in front of the wicket as England lost half of their side for 39 in 10 overs.
Left-arm spinner Kashyap also kept things tight at the other end as Chopra removed Gay with Archana taking a superb one-handed catch.
With England reeling at 46 for 6 in 12 overs, skipper Shafali brought herself in but Alexa Stonehouse hit her for a rare boundary.
Soumya Tiwari then came into action as her direct hit found Josephine Groves short by a big margin, leaving England at 53 for 7.
Shafali and Richa then combined to pile further misery on England with the latter producing a stumping effort. Kashyap then removed Stonehouse with Sonam taking a dolly at cover, while Sonam then caught and bowled Sophia Smale.
The Indian women’s cricket team has never won a World Cup at any level. The seniors reached the World Cup final on three occasions across formats but failed to go the distance.
PTI