Shafali, Sehrawat, Chopra in ICC U-19 Women’s T20 WC team of tournament
Three Indian cricketers — newly-crowned World Cup-winning captain Shafali Verma, her opening partner Shweta Sehrawat and talented leg-spinner Parshavi Chopra were on Monday named in the ICC U-19 Women’s T20 World Cup team of the tournament.
Shafali on Sunday led a bunch of talented youngsters to the inaugural U-19 T20 World Cup title with a seven-wicket thrashing of England in the final as India recorded their first-ever ICC triumph in women’s cricket.
The dashing opener was destructive with the bat and also showed her tactical acumen as captain. Her 34-ball 78 against UAE was an exhibition of power-hitting as she smashed the bowlers to all parts of the ground for 12 fours and four sixes. She was the third-highest run-getter with 172 runs.
The captain also chipped in with handy overs, scalping four wickets in seven games at an economy of just 5.04.
The other opener Sehrawat, however, towered over her seniors Shafali and Richa Ghosh, finishing as the highest run-scorer in the tournament with 297 runs at an average of 99 and a strike rate of 139.43.
Parshavi picked up only two wickets in India’s first three games but exploded at the business end, finishing as the second-highest wicket-taker with 11 wickets in six games.
In the final Super Six game, the leggie was all over Sri Lanka, returning figures of 4/5. She followed that up with a 3/20 in the crunch semi-final against New Zealand and 2/13 in the final.
Led England’s Grace Scrivens, the team also comprises two more English woman in Hannah Baker and Ellie Anderson, New Zealand’s Georgia Plimmer, Sri Lanka’s Dewmi Vihanga, Bangladesh’s Shorna Akter, South Africa’s Karabo Meso, Maggie Clark of Australia and Anosha Nasir of Pakan.