India’s attacking opening batter Shafali Verma isn’t new to captaincy, the youngster having led her state Haryana in domestic tournaments.
However, it will be a different challenge from when she heads out for the toss in the first T20I against South Africa in Pretoria on December 27 as the India U-19 women’s cricket team captain for the first time. The five-match series against South Africa women’s youth team will be a prelude to the first T20 U-19 women’s World Cup, which also takes place in South Africa from January 14.
The inaugural U-19 World Cup was originally scheduled in 2021 but Covid forced the postponement. This allowed the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru to help the players prepare well for the mega event.
The NCA took almost 10 months to conduct Zonal Cricket Academy (ZCA) camps, followed by zonal U-19 tournaments and a special camp in Bengaluru under BCCI-qualified women coaches. The top U-19 cricketers then played in a quadrangular series featuring West Indies, Sri Lanka, India A and India B (all U-19 teams) in Visakhapatnam, followed by a T20 series against New Zealand U-19 team in Mumbai recently.
“The BCCI did a fabulous job in utilising the time for the U-19 team. Despite lot of rain and wet conditions, the U-19 players were exposed to intensive conditioning camps followed by highly competitive tournaments. Also, it would be interesting to see former India cricketer Nooshin-AL-Khadeer do the head coach’s duties in South Africa.
“She was a successful spinner for India taking over 100 international wickets. She has been coaching Railways for long in domestic tournaments and the team is always a champion. The BCCI made an effort to groom women coaches during this phase,” said board-qualified coach Khyati Gulani, who was a coach in one of the ZCA U-19 camps.
India senior team members Shafali and Richa Ghosh being part of the side will bolster the U-19 team going into the World Cup. Both did well in the just-ended T20 series against Australia, though the visitors won the five-match series held in Mumbai 4-1.
India’s U-19s will play five T20s against South Africa U-19 from December 27 to January 4 in Pretoria. They also meet South Africa in their World Cup opener in Benoni on January 14.
In the 16-team tournament, India are in Group D with South Africa, UAE and Scotland. The top three teams from each of the four groups will progress to the Super Six, where teams will be pooled into two groups of six each. The top two from each group will qualify for the semi-finals, to be played in Potchefstroom on Jan 27. The final will also be played at the venue on Jan 29.
Though the India senior team has reached the World Cup final many times in recent years, they have failed to win. All hopes are thus pinned on the U-19 team winning. The side, with talented young players from around the country, has shown promise in the last 10 months.