“Coming at the start of the tournament, I think I mentioned one thing that we are here to dominate, we are here to make sure that India stays on top.”
India had chased in four of the six games before the final, and they won all those matches comfortably, never losing more than two wickets. After South Africa won the toss and chose to bat in the title bout, India just replicated the template that served them so well through the competition, their spinners playing a pivotal role in getting the opposition out for 82.
“We are definitely going to create this legacy of winning ICC trophies, winning a lot of trophies for India,” Prasad said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
Prasad had to put behind her the disappointment of not making the squad for the previous Under-19 World Cup, which India won under the captaincy of Shafali Verma in 2023, but she’s soaking it all in now.
“I think I’m feeling really happy that I am right here standing, making sure that India stays on top. And it’s obviously a special moment that we’re playing the World Cup and doing this for India,” she said.
India lost the toss and were asked to bowl. Prasad said India drew from their experience bowling first in most of their matches in the competition.
“I think all of us just tried to stay calm and down-to-earth and just stick to doing what our job is,” she said.
“I think if we would have won the toss we would have definitely chosen batting but you know throughout the tournament we’ve been bowling well and we’ve been bowling first [more] so nevertheless we just wanted to go out there and show what we can do.”
Trisha, who was named Player of the Match and Player of the Tournament, dedicated the latter award to her father, who was in the audience.
“Because of him I started playing cricket. I don’t think without him I would have been here,” said Trisha, who was also part of the team in 2023.
Trisha, who said she idolises Mithali Raj, has been working on her power game in recent times and credited India’s batting coach Apoorva S Desaii for giving her role clarity before the competition.
“So we’ve been working on [my power game] since a while. For this tournament our batting coach Apoorva sir he has kept telling ‘you are going to open the innings and make sure you’re ready for it’,” Trisha said.
Apart from her heroics with the bat, Trisha also returned seven wickets from the six games she bowled in.
India’s left-arm spin trio ‘like a family’
While Vaishnavi topped the charts with 17 strikes, Shukla and Sisodia were not far behind with 14 and 10 wickets respectively.
According to them, the three are close and have developed a great understanding between themselves.
“I guess back in the room in the hotel, what all three we talk about is nothing related to our bowling,” Sisodia said after India’s win. “All our bowling just came and, you know, in the game coming on we just enjoyed ourselves.
“We keep telling each other a little bit of, you know, what the batters are doing, helping each other [on the field].
“At this point, I guess, we are just, you know, eye contacting and we are understanding each other now.”
With all of them being left-arm spinners, is there competition or does this fact not affect them?
“We are like the best friends,” Sisodia was quick to respond, with emphasis on the “best”. Vaishnavi, who was too overcome with emotion to speak a few minutes earlier was quick to interject: “We are like family actually. We all are family.”
Asked about their plans for the future, Sisodia said: “I guess all of us… I mean, not just us [three] but the whole team, we all want to just go ahead and, you know, never look back from here.”
Wicketkeeper and opener G Kamalini, who was animatedly photobombing the interview, then came in and summed up the feelings of the team in a line in Tamil: “World Cup-pa thookittom [We have lifted the World Cup].”
