The Indian youth team made the country proud by lifting the trophy for the second time in a row at the Under-19 Women's World Cup cricket tournament held in Malaysia. In the final, the Indian women’s team defeated South Africa by nine wickets. The team including Malayali pacer VJ Joshitha didn’t lose a single game in the tournament, an icing on the cake to their victory.
South Africa, who batted first in the final, were bowled out for 82 runs, while India surpassed the target with the loss of just one wicket in 11.2 overs. G. Trisha, who conceded only 15 runs and took three wickets, also excelled with the bat scoring 44 runs. When it came to selecting the player of the final and the player of the tournament, the officials did not doubt picking Trisha’a’s name.
Vaishnavi Sharma is India's top wicket-taker with 17 wickets. Joshita took six wickets in six matches. In the match against West Indies, she took two wickets for five runs and was named player of the match. This victory shows India’s total domination over the sport, clearing the air that it is just not restricted to men’s tournaments. India won the Men's Twenty20 World Cup held in the Caribbean last year.
In the women's category, we have excellent teams at both the senior and junior levels. The exemplary steps taken by the Board of Control for Cricket in India, which even removed the distinction in pay, helped many aspirant women to step into the sport.
BCCI is also running a Women's Premier League emulating IPL for women cricketers. This World Cup victory sends a clear message about the women’s team extending their tentacles of power over the sport. It seems like the upcoming era of women’s cricket belongs to India.
The victory also brings pride to Kerala for the fact that local girl V J Joshitha excelled in the tournament wearing national colours. VJ Joshita hails from Wayanad, the hometown of Indin senior cricket players Minnumani and Sajana Sajeev. All three Indian national players learned the trade from KCA Academy, which was started in connection with the KCA Stadium in Krishnagiri, Wayanad.
The hue and cry over national team selectors ignoring Sanju Samson is now an everyday scenario. Malayalees still go dejected over Sanju repeatedly being shown the door. But the fact that more juniors from Kerala are barging into the prized Indian cricket team gives hope. The pat on the back should also fall upon KCA for introducing academies across the state for honing talents. In the past, Malayali players were included in the national team, only if they had completed training in foreign cricket academies. But the trend stopped after KCA overhauled the cricket business in the state.