Indian U-19 Women's cricket team crushed South Africa by nine wickets in the final to successfully defend their U19 Women’s T20 World Cup title at the Bayuemas Oval in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday.

Indian bowlers packed South Africa under a modest score, as the eventual runners-up finished at 82 in 20 overs, losing all wickets. In the second innings, India chased down the score in just 11.2 overs, losing only one wicket as they stamped a dominating nine-wicket win in the one-sided final. 

𝗖. 𝗛. 𝗔. 𝗠. 𝗣. 𝗜. 𝗢. 𝗡. 𝗦! 🏆#TeamIndia 🇮🇳 are the ICC U19 Women’s T20 World Cup 2025 Champions 👏 👏

Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/hkhiLzuLwj #SAvIND | #U19WorldCup pic.twitter.com/MuOEENNjx8

— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) February 2, 2025

After clinching the title in the inaugural edition in 2023, India U-19 women have successfully retained the title in Malaysia in 2025.

Commanding performance by the Indian bowlers in the first innings

South Africa struggled to score quickly in their innings and lost wickets regularly as India's spin bowlers took control of the game. However, this tournament shows significant progress compared to the inaugural competition two years ago, where South Africa did not advance beyond the Super Six stage.

South Africa won the toss and chose to bat first, as Parunika Sisodia clean-bowled opener Simone Lourens at the end of the second over to pick up South Africa's first wicket. Another opener, Jemma Botha went back to the pavilion after adding 16 off 14 to the scorecards.

📸 📸

𝗠. 𝗢. 𝗢. 𝗗 straight after a memorable title triumph! ☺️ 🏆#TeamIndia 🇮🇳 | #U19WorldCup pic.twitter.com/nJOELSNO1f

— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) February 2, 2025

India quickly took over the South African batting line-up, as Diara Ramlakan and captain Kayla Reyneke got out at 3 and 7, respectively; where the score was 40-4 in 11.2 overs.

Only Mieke Van Broot tried to build up some resistance by scoring 23 off 18, but Gongadi Trisha sent her back to the pavilion at 17.5 over. Following that, Sheshnie Naidu, Ashleigh van Wyk, and Monalisa Legodi all registered ducks, as South Africa got all out at just 82 in 20 overs.

Gongadi Trisha stalled her bowling figure at 3-15, whereas Paruniaka Sisodia (2-6), Ayushi Shukla (2-9), and Vaishnavi Sharma (2-23), the highest wicket-taker of the tournament, collectively collapsed the South African batting. 

Blistering batting from India chased down the target easily

South Africa v India, Bayuemas Oval, Kuala Lumpur, 2 February 2025

South Africa: 82 all out in 20 overs (Mieke van Voorst 23, Jemma Botha 16; Gongadi Trisha 3/15, Parunika Sisodia 2/6)

India: 84 for one in 11.2 overs (Gongadi Trisha 44 not out, Sanika Chalke 26 not out; Kayla Reyneke 1/14)

Result: India won by nine wickets

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of Mumbai Indians vs Gujarat Giants WPL 2025 Eliminator match in Mumbai at the Brabourne Stadium. 

This is Payal Debnath, with all the LIVE Updates for you from the web desk.

Harmanpreet Kaur’s Mumbai Indians have dominated this rivalry, boasting an unbeaten 6-0 record against Ashleigh Gardner’s Gujarat Giants across three seasons. They will aim to maintain their streak and knock Gujarat out of the tournament. 

While the Giants have shown significant improvement since last season, they must deliver when it matters most to keep their title hopes alive.

So, sit back and relax as we start the live coverage for you. keep refreshing the page for all the latest updates.

Moreover, you can follow us on Twitter for all the updates. Join our Telegram and WhatsApp channels to get all the news and scores.

The Indian U-19 Women's team secured their spot in the 2025 U-19 Women's T20 World Cup semi-finals after defeating Bangladesh U-19 by 8 wickets in the first Super-six game.

𝐈𝐂𝐂 𝐔𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫-𝟏𝟗 𝐖𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧’𝐬 𝐓𝟐𝟎 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐂𝐮𝐩 ||

India storms into the semi-finals with a commanding 8-wicket victory over Bangladesh in Kuala Lumpur.

Final Score:

Bangladesh Women - 64/8
India Women - 66/2 (7.1)#U19WorldCup | #TeamIndia | #INDvBAN | #U19WC pic.twitter.com/MlAw8l9EeA

— All India Radio News (@airnewsalerts) January 26, 2025

India's strategy of dominating early in the field worked perfectly again, helping them to earn an easy win. Bangladesh U-19 ended their innings on 64/8 in the first innings. 

In response, Indian all-rounder Gonagadi Trisha led the chase with the quick 40 runs off 31 balls, helping India secure an eight-wicket win within eight overs at the Bayuemas Oval, Kuala Lumpur.

Statement victory from the Indian U-19 women's team

Indian U-19 bowlers determined their firm control right from the beginning, as they have done throughout the tournament so far. India picked up the first wicket within the first two overs, leading to restrict Bangladesh U-19 to 18/4 by the end of the Powerplay.

Shabnam and VJ Joshita's tight bowling combined with the sharp fielding confirmed India to stay in control against Bangladesh. 

ICC Women's Under 19 T20 WorldCup 2025 super six
🇮🇳 🆚 🇧🇩

After 1st innings , Bangladesh 64/8 (20)
Sumaiya Akter 21 (29)
Vaishnavi Sharma 3/15 (4)

India need 65 runs to win

#U19WorldCup #INDvBAN #U19Worldcup2025 📸 Getty pic.twitter.com/9OGWwdAy31

— Thewomencricketworld (@Thewomencricke1) January 26, 2025

The quick wickets from the Indian pacers have surfaced the way for the spinner to shine. Vaishnavi Sharma again stole the show, taking a three-wicket haul for just 15 runs, Vaishnavi increased her tournament tally to 9, making her one of the top wicket-takers.

However, India's compact bowling restricted Bangladesh U-19 to a vulnerable score of 64/8, leaving India U-19 for an easy target to chase.

Trisha led the Indian batting in an easy chase

In response, opener Gondagi Trisha made a scorching 40 off 31, making the job half-done before leaving the pitch in the 6.5 over. 

The rest was easily done by Sanika Chalke who made 11 off 5, studded with two boundaries to finish it off for the Indian team. Indian U-19 secured a huge eight-wicket victory in just 7.1 overs, ending the innings on 66/2 and marking their utmost dominance over its continental counterpart.

Indian skipper Niki Prasad expressed her happiness as she stated:

We have been putting in a lot of effort before the match and in our preparation for the fielding, it has been really good. When we’re on the field, we just want to dominate. We aim to give our best and keep evolving and getting better and better.

Vaishnavi Sharma was named Player of the Match for the second time in the tournament. She credited her teammates, by saying:

I have no words for this. Credit to the opening bowlers for making the spinners’ job easier. It didn’t turn as much today so I just attacked the stumps.

For her effective bowling and taking 3️⃣ wickets, Vaishnavi Sharma is the Player of the Match 👏 #TeamIndia win by 8 wickets 👌

Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/gqvo3PMFUq#INDvBAN | #U19WorldCup pic.twitter.com/U7knONAnrq

— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) January 26, 2025

India U-19 storms into the 2025 U-19 Women's T20 World Cup semi-final

The win marks the Indian U-19 team's third consecutive win over Bangladesh, including two wins in the Under 19 Women's Asia Cup. Gongadi Trisha significantly scored the most in all three matches.

India U-19 will aim for another victory as they face Scotland in their next Super-six game on Tuesday, hoping to maintain their unbeaten streak.

The Girls in Blue dominated their first encounter at the Super Six stage, defeating Bangladesh with 8 wickets in hand!#INDWvBANW #U19WorldCup pic.twitter.com/WUAAlXLmev

— AsianCricketCouncil (@ACCMedia1) January 26, 2025

14-year-old Ira Jadhav creates history in Women's Cricket. Cricket in India has always been a source of pride and inspiration, and now a new name has materialized to carry that legacy forward 14-year-old Ira Jadhav. The Maharashtrian young cricketing prodigy has notched her name in history by achieving extraordinary records in one breathtaking innings.

In a recent match during BCCI's limited-over tournament, Ira becomes the first Indian woman to score a triple-century. Ira scored an unbeaten 346 runs in just 157 balls to carry Mumbai to 563 for 3 against Meghalaya in Alur cricket in Bangalore on Sunday. The record holder smashed 42 fours and 16 sixes with a strike rate of 220.38 in the Women's U-19 One Day trophy.

Ira Jadhav opened the innings for Mumbai. She made a partnership of 274 runs for the second wicket with the help of Hurley Gala, the captain of the team, who made 116 off 79 balls. Ira contributed with149 runs in this partnership. Another huge partnership was shared between Diksha Pawar and Ira Jadhav forged an unbeaten partnership of 186 runs, with Diksha contributing 39 runs and Ira chipping in with 137 runs.

Ira Jadhav's record-breaking triple century is not just a statistical milestone; it stands as a signal of possibility- proof that sports empower greatness. With her historic knockout, Ira craved her name in the notebook of the history. She ignited hope and inspiration in millions of hearts. At just 14, she has shown that the future of Indian Cricket is shining brightly. 

Bengal Women's Senior Cricket team played two out of two finals of domestic cricket this season. Though they were not able to win any of them, they showed why they are India's one of the best.

In the BCCI Senior Women's One-Day trophy final, Madhya Pradesh defeated them. Meantime, in the T20 final, Mumbai outclassed them. Apart from those two games, they looked like the best team in the country.

After the completion of the One-Day tournament, Sportz Point was lucky to have a conversation with five of the stars of this team. Openers Sasthi Mondal and Dhara Gujjar along with all-rounders Mita Paul and Tanusree Sarkar, plus wiicket-keeper Priyanka Bala shared their thoughts before going for the Challengers Trophy.

Lots of runs and a fearless approach

Despite having a good team over the years, this was only the second time the Bengal Senior Women's team reached the final in One-Day tournament. But, the 2019 champions had to create some of their own records to reach the final after five years.

In the quarter-finals, they defeated Shafali Verma's Haryana by chasing a record 390. With that, they also became the team with highest successful chase in Women's List-A cricket. In the semis, they again chased down 301 to beat the defending champions, Railways.

History! 😲🔥

Bengal women's team creates history by chasing down Haryana's 390 in 49.1 overs in the quarter-finals of the BCCI Senior Women's One-Day Tournament. pic.twitter.com/SnMFkKPlGt

— Sportz Point (@sportz_point) December 23, 2024

These run chases and high scores are a bit alien in Women's Cricket; especially in India. But, Bengal girls feel, that Women's cricket is improving at a rapid speed and this is just the start.

Dhara Gujjar, who scored a stunning 123 in the semis against Railways feels, there is a change in the mindset of the players now. "As we have seen it in the knockout stages, honestly, I feel there is a change in the mindset of the players where they want to go and express themselves and play fearlessly," Dhara told Sportz Point.

Read Also | "Keep an eye on Mita Paul and Dhara Gujjar": Former Indian Cricketer Gargi Banerjee after Byju's Bengal Women's T20 Blast

Her opening partner, Sasthi Mondal echoed the same thoughts. Sasthi, who featured for India U-19s in the recent past, made her senior debut this season. "Obviously, there is a change in the mindset of the players. But, for me, this is my style of batting and I love this kind of game," the 19-year-old all-rounder expressed.

However, senior players like Mita Paul and Priyanka Bala feel there is another thing which is attributed to high-scoring games. Along with the fearless mindset, the pitches are also responsible for the amount of runs we have seen this season. As per Mita, the pitches this season have been mostly great for batting. That allowed them to go for the shots and attack throughout the inning.

Read Also | Bengal Cricket: 7 U-19 cricketers from Bengal who can play for India in future

Priyanka Bala, who scored the invaluable unbeaten 88 in that chase against Haryana feels the same as well. "Pitches were definitely better. Earlier the runs used to be around the 120-run mark. Now, you can see 200s in T20s and 300s in ODIs. So, it is great to see such facilities given to us now," the wicket-keeper batter shared.

Not only that, Bala feels if BCCI can provide pitches like this, we are not far away from having 400s being scored in Women's One Day games.

Tanusree Sarkar, who laid the foundation for other batters with a 113 in that match can sense that there would be more records like this in future. "If you can get flat pitches like this, I feel anything can be chased down," Sarkar revealed.

But, even if you have the best conditions and circumstances, chasing down huge totals and doing that in back-to-back games, ain't a Bollywood movie script. For that, you need proper preparation and planning.

That record chase against Haryana

In both those games, each batter had their own plans and had their different roles too. For a young gun like Sasthi Mondal, there is only one way to play; smash the ball. She did that. "I am dominant from childhood. I like attacking the bowlers. I just did that. I did not go to bat thinking about the score," she said.

For Dhara, there were some initial doubts and she did not have any plan. She tried to take each over at a time and stay positive. "Honestly, there wasn’t any plan. And looking at the score, I didn’t believe that we would be able to get there. I just thought that I’m gonna go and play my shots and just take one over at a time," Dhara said while explaining her 69 runs at the top of the order against Haryana.

Tanusree meantime always had the belief that they could clinch the win. "I had the thought that we can win the match if we can stay positive. Once we had the momentum, we just wanted to keep the flow going."

Priyanka Bala and Mita Paul, who batted in the middle order during those chases in One-Day knockouts, had the same feelings. "Everyone had their role, described by the team management and the pitch allowed us to play shorts," Mita shared.

Bala, who averaged 69.33 with the bat in the tournament, always felt they were in the game in both games. "When Shafali (Verma) was hitting us like that, we did not panic. We knew we would have our chance. I think, being relaxed is what helped us a lot," she expressed.

Read Also | Exclusive | Taunts to Claps: Priyanka Bala's journey from rural village of Nadia to WPL

Though the batters had one of their best times in the One-Day tournament, it was the bowlers who performed in crunch moments in the T20 format.

In the quarter-final against Madhya Pradesh, Bengal bowlers restricted the opponents to 116. Then followed it up by defending only 134 against a strong Himachal Pradesh in the semis. Captain Saika Ishaque with 13 wickets and Mita Paul with 8 wickets in the tournament, were always in the scheme of things. India pacer Titas Sadhu also did well whenever she was released for national duties.

Debutants, Young Guns and Jhulan Goswami

Throughout the season, along with the seniors, it was the combination of youth and experience that helped Bengal triumph. Prativa Mandi, Sasthi Mondal, Hrishita Basu, and Monika Mal were among the debutants in the season.

"The youngsters did really well. I feel bowlers like Chandrima (16-year-old left-arm pacer), Prativa Mandi (17-year-old right-arm pacer) and others knew their roles. This helped us a lot," Mita Paul told Sportz Point.

"We had lots of debuts this season. But, honestly speaking, they all were ready," Priyanka Bala expressed while talking about the youngsters of the team.

"This time there were youngsters in our team and they jelled up quite well with the team. I tried communicating with them and helping them out if needed," Dhara Gujjar added.

But why was it so easy for 16 and 17-year-old teenagers to perform at that level? Jhulan Goswami is the answer. Bengal team management has been lucky to have the services of the most successful bowler in Women's Cricket history.

Sasthi Mondal, who had the luck of training under Jhulan from a very young age shared, "The best thing about Jhulan ma'am is that she makes you feel confident. She lets me be myself. But, she also knows when to push me to get the best out of myself."

However, along with the youngsters, there was someone who was starting from scratch for the Bengal team. Tanusree Sarkar, who previously had led the Bengal U-19 team, had joined Railways before taking an N.O.C to rejoin her home state this year. Priyanka Bala did the same as well a few years back.

"You can say that it was a homecoming for me. From Bengal U-19 to Railways and then to Bengal; but, I never think of these things that much. I try to stay in present," Tanusree expressed.

"As an all-rounder, I always look to find ways to contribute to the team. I always try to take things as they come; even in batting, bowling and fielding."

WPL and its impact

With all of these wins and defeats, each and every women cricketer in India now has one thing in the corner of their eyes. It is the Women's Premier League. All these five cricketers agreed on the fact that WPL has changed the dynamics of Women's Cricket in India.

Be it playing more shots, being quicker and more agile across the turf or having more tricks up their sleeves as a bowler, WPL now has given everyone a reason to be better. "⁠I feel, WPL has changed the approach of players, and also the mindset of the players has changed," Dhara commented.

Sasthi Mondal, Priyanka Bala and Mita did not even hesitate to agree with Dhara's thoughts. As per Mita, WPL is now like a bridge to play for India. If one can reach WPL and do well, they now have great chances of making it to the Indian team as well.

But, unfortunately, no Bengal players were able to attract bids in the WPL 2025 auction. Only Priyanka Bala and Sushmita Ganguly were listed in the final player's list in the auction, but could not find any bidder.

Read Also | WPL 2025 auction Updates, News, Biggest Buys and Final squads | Simran Shaikh becomes the expensive buy at INR 1.9 cr

However, these things do not demotivate Bengal players. Rather, it gives them the push to be better. "I think, we all believe in performance. It is the last thing. If I am not getting picked that means there are lots of players like me. So, I need to keep getting better than them and focus on my game," Mita Paul stated.

Bengal Players in the SWT20 Trophy

Batting Stats

Bowling Stats

Bengal players in SWODI Trophy

Batting Stats

Bowling Stats

Madhya Pradesh defeated Bengal by seven wickets in the final of the Senior Women's One Day Cup 2024 to lift the maiden trophy at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium on Monday.

Also Read: Deepti Sharma makes history as the first Indian player to take three 5-wicket hauls in Women’s ODIs

Despite playing well in the whole tournament, Bengal batters couldn't maintain the rhythm in the Senior Women's One Day Cup final. This is Bengal's back to back losses in the final. 

Bengal batters collapsed 

Madhya Pradesh won the toss and elected to field first. In the last few matches, the Bengali team chased and scored big runs easily. But on this day, Bengal lost the pair of openers when they came to bat first. Two in-form batsmen Dhara Gujjar scored 0 runs and Sasthi Mondal returned to the pavilion for just 5 runs.

After that, Bengal's star batsman Richa Ghosh came to the field. But she got out after playing only 1 ball and returned to dressing room. Then Tanusree Sarkar scored a fighting 21 (29) runs. Mita Pal, who took the attention in the previous match, scored 25 (45) runs.

Priyanka Bala took Bengal to a respectable score

Priyanka Bala came down and fought a lot. She took Bengal to a respectable score. Bengal's run reached 136 runs courtesy of her 42-run innings. Bengal team was all out in 38.2 overs. 

Madhya Pradesh's bowler Kranti Gaud bowled amazingly and took four wickets. He gave only 25 runs in 9 overs. In the end, he was selected as the man of the match.

Also Read: Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024: Bengal vs Baroda match report | Bengal beats Baroda by 7 wickets; Anustup misses century by 1 run

Anushka Sharma played match winning innings

In reply, the Madhya Pradesh team chased down the required runs to win after losing three wickets in just 34.4 overs. Opener Anushka Sharma scored an unbeaten 69 (102) runs. Apart from her, Ananya Dubey scored 27 (63) runs and Aayushi Shukla remained unbeaten at 30. 

Pacer Titas Sadhu, who returned from the Indian team, took all three wickets for Bengal. 

Looking at the strength, the Bengal team was the favourite, but a bad day took them away from the trophy.