U19 World Cup: Objective is to win and successfully defend the title, says Niki Prasad

New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu): India skipper Niki Prasad said her team’s objective is to win the 2025 U19 Women’s T20 World Cup and successfully defend the title they won under Shafali Verma’s leadership in 2023. India are the defending champions in the tournament starting in Malaysia on Saturday, after having won the first edition in South Africa in 2023. They also come in on the back of winning the inaugural U19 Women’s Asia Cup in Malaysia last month. “The objective is very clear. To win this tournament and successfully defend the title which India won in the previous edition. It also happened to be the first edition of the U19 Women’s T20 World Cup. We are here to play a brand of cricket which will help us win the trophy and make our country and supporters proud,” said Niki in an ICC statement.

England, runners-up from the 2023 edition, are looking to go one step further in 2025. “As a team, we are looking to play with positive intent throughout the competition, along with enjoying the ride and taking every opportunity that is thrown at us to maximise the experience and obviously with the intent to win!” said captain Abi Norgrave.

The 2023 semifinalist Australia have challenged themselves to succeed in a variety of conditions that will be presented to them during the tournament. “This year, the girls have competed in two different tri-series in Sri Lanka and Brisbane.”

“This was a great opportunity to develop as a team and experience different challenging environments. The team have taken these opportunities as a great learning experience to prepare us for Malaysia. The team’s overall objective for this tournament is to do one better, make the World Cup final, and come home with the trophy,” stated captain Lucy Hamilton.

Bangladesh captain Sumaiya Akter, who led the team to a runners-up finish in the U19 Women’s Asia Cup, is also looking forward to returning to play in Malaysia. “We are very much excited to play in Malaysia for the U19 Women’s T20 World Cup. We played the Asia Cup over here and we explored the fine culture of Malaysia. We really enjoyed the diversity of culture and food over here.”

Sri Lanka skipper Manudi Nanayakkara, who guided her side to the semifinals of the Asia Cup, said they have come well-prepared. “We have done our homework. We are coming just after playing the U19 Women's Asia Cup, which gave us good exposure. Before coming here, we played a few games against Bangladesh U19, which adds muscle to our preparations.”

Another 2023 semifinalist New Zealand have some unfinished business to complete in 2025, and captain Tash Wakelin said the tournament represents the opportunity for her team to succeed on several fronts.

“Everyone is aiming for the same thing of trying to progress as far through the tournament as possible. However, as we are all still so young and continuing to grow and develop our individual games, experience, and knowledge gained from this opportunity is invaluable.”

“If we can all leave the tournament knowing, we gave it our all as well as a better understanding of our own games and stronger motivation and aspirations of wanting to play cricket at the highest level, then we can feel a strong sense of achievement within ourselves and as a group.”