Shafali Verma breaks down in tears of joy during post-match presentation after leading India to Women's U19 T20 WC glory

An elated India Women U19 skipper Shafali Verma could not hold back her emotions as she broke down during the post-match interview after the Indian team’s emphatic seven-wicket victory over England in the final of the ICC Women’s U19 T20 World Cup 2023 at Potchefstroom on Sunday, January 29.

By the virtue of this famous win, India has now become the very first team to lift the Women’s U19 title as it was the inaugural edition of the tournament. Apart from Shafali, Richa Ghosh was another player who had some amount of international exposure heading into this tournament.

During the post-match presentation, when the interviewer had reminded Verma that this was the first-ever global tournament title in Indian women’s cricket history, an emotional captain was seen wiping her tears of joy.

“Take your time. It’s ok, these are happy tears,” the presenter said.

While still in tears Shafali thanked her teammates, support staff and also gave a special mention to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for the squad selection which made this win possible.

“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. All thanks to them. The players have been backing me a lot,” she said.

“Thanks to BCCI for giving me this beautiful team and really happy for winning the cup,” she added.

Watch the video of this emotional moment here.

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India U19 Women etch their names in history books

England U19 were also firm favorites ahead of the summit clash as they had bowled arch-rivals Australia out for just 96 and successfully defended 99 in their semifinal encounter.

However, the Shafali Verma-led side were on a mission and they bowled their hearts out as well showcased some outstanding fielding performances to bowl the opposition out for only 68 runs in the 18^th over.

Titas Sadhu, Archana Devi and Parshavi Chopra starred with two scalps each. In reply, India might have lost three wickets during an easy chase, but number three batter Soumya Tiwari’s unbeaten 24 was good enough to ensure a fairytale ending for the budding Indian cricketers in this tournament.

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