Incredible feeling: Captain Shafali Verma after winning the U-19 Women’s World Cup
India U-19 captain Shafali Verma was overwhelmed with emotion after the final match between India and England for the Women’s U-19 T20 World Cup. The Indian women’s team on Sunday lifted its first-ever ICC trophy with a seven-wicket win over England.
“The way all the girls are performing and backing each other, so happy. Incredible feeling. Thanks to the staff, the way they have been backing us everyday and telling us that we are here for the cup and because of them we are here,” she said.
“The players have been backing me a lot. Thanks to BCCI for giving me this beautiful team and really happy for winning the cup,” she added.
“She (Shweta Sehrawat) has been excellent and has followed all the plans from the staff. Not just her, Archana, Soumya and I can’t really take the names but they all have been incredible,” she said in conclusion.
“It is a fabulous feeling. This is the feeling we have been waiting for very long. This is the first time we won the cup and it has come with the U-19 kids. Just shows the kind of depth we have and what is there for us in the future,” Coach Nooshin Al Khadeer said after the match.
“The most special thing is the belief. I knew they had a bad game against Australia, but the way they have gathered and played there after, we kept it very simple and we thought we would just play proper and simple cricket and we would achieve this. From the National anthem and till the time we won we had goosebumps. I personally realise and understand how special this is for us,” she said.
Richa Ghosh said the triumph will give a boost to the senior team to go for the title in next month’s T20 World Cup, also in South Africa. “It is a superb feeling. I have been waiting for this since U-19 days for so many years. All the players have a good positive energy, I really enjoyed with them and we will take the momentum in the senior world cup,” she said.“We are looking forward to that World Cup also, if we can win 2 World Cups, it will be superb.”
Player of the Match Titas Sadhu, who returned with superb figures of 2 for 6 in her four overs, said “It’s really surreal. Have been looking forward to this day for a long time.
“We had a plan in our mind, and thankfully we executed what we planned. The spinners backed up really well. We have played 2 matches and watched all the games that happened here, and had a pretty good idea where to bowl.”
(With PTI inputs)
