India 117 for 1 (Kamalini 56*, Trisha 35) beat England 113 for 8 (Perrin 45, Norgrove 30, Sisodia 3-21, Vaishnavi 3-23, Aayushi 2-21) by nine wickets
A clinical all-round performance from defending champions India in the second semi-final against England secured their entry into the Women’s U-19 T20 World Cup final. In a rematch of the 2023 final, India kept England down to 113 thanks to a dominant show from their spinners. The top order led by
G Kamalini, who scored an unbeaten 56, then razed down India’s target with five overs to spare.
The win was set up by India’s three left-arm spinners.
Parunika Sisodia got the first two wickets and another late in the innings to finish 3 for 21 and the Player-of-the-Match medal. She was supported by
Aayushi Shukla‘s spell of 2 for 21, which included the wicket of England’s top-scorer
Davina Perrin (45).
Vaishnavi Sharma, the tournament’s leading wicket-taker, claimed three wickets in the 16th over to take the wind out of England’s innings.
But it was not all rosy for India at the start. A 44-run stand between Perrin and captain
Abi Norgrove powered England to 81 for 2 and set the platform for a challenging total. Aayushi’s dismissal of Perrin in the 12th over, though, triggered a collapse that saw England slide from 81 for 2 to 92 for 8. It was only the late resistance in the last four overs from Amu Surenkumar and Tilly Corteen-Coleman, who put on an unbroken 21 for the ninth wicket, that dragged England’s total to 113 for 8.
England needed early wickets to stay in the game, and that didn’t happen, as the India openers took 44 in the powerplay.
Gongadi Trisha (35) and Kamalini maneuvered the gaps expertly in a 60-run partnership in 8.6 overs.
Trisha’s dismissal at the hands of Phoebe Brett nearly brought England another wicket, as Norgrove appeared to take a diving catch in the covers with Kamalini on 25, only for the TV umpire to rule that the catch hadn’t been completed cleanly. That decision, followed by wides from Surenkumar and Trudy Johnson that ran away to the boundary, put India in a near-unassailable position, and Kamalini finished the game off with three fours in the 15th over. The second of them brought up her second half-century in as many innings.
India now take on South Africa in Sunday’s final in Kuala Lumpur, with both sides going into the title clash undefeated.
