India Beat South Africa To Emerge U19 Women's T20 World Champions

India Beat South Africa To Emerge U19 Women's T20 World Champions

Akanimo Kufre 

India's golden girl, Trisha Gongadi, won the Player of the Match Award as her 44 runs and 3 wickets ensured India had a convincing 9 wickets win against South Africa in Lumpur on Sunday finals.

South Africa women batted just 82 runs all out in 20 overs. The Indian ladies had a stroll in the park, and Trisha Gongadi and Sanika Chalke easily reached target with runs in 11.2 overs. South Africa could only dent India's record with a dismissal when Kamalini G. was caught after scoring 8 runs off 13 balls.

This is the second time India, the Asian cricket powerhouse, has proven their dominance in the U19 Women's T20 World Cup. India, in a similar fashion, had whooped England by 7 wickets in 2023 inaugural edition.

Nigeria's assistant coach and former national female team captain, Blessing Etim, who returned to Uyo on Sunday, said India's victory did not come as a surprise because India was the dreaded team in the Malaysia World Cup tournament. 

"India is the best team as they were always on top of their game. The only team we planned extra hard for in case of any clash was India. Other teams did not look as difficult to play. We had always expected India to win."

While South African captain Kayla Reyneke promised that her team would come back stronger in 2027, Coach Blessing presumed that the Nigerian U19 cricket team will not struggle much as 10 players in the team will still be eligible to play the U19 Women's T20 World Cup come next edition. 

India enjoyed a special advantage in the tournament because most of her players were camping together after winning 2023 World Cup hosted by South Africa.