India vs South Africa U19 Women’s T20 World Cup Final LIVE SCORE: IND aim to successfully defend crown

India U-19, who lifted the inaugural U-19 Women’s T20 Asia Cup also held in Malaysia in December, have made something of a fortress out in the country, racking up win after win, and in a fashion that hasn’t given half a chance to opposition teams. Looking at the margins of their victories in the group stages and super sixes stage doesn’t make pretty reading for the opposition: targets chased down within 5, 3, and 8 overs against West Indies, Malaysia, and Bangladesh respectively, as well as a 60-run victory against Sri Lanka and a whopping 150-run victory against Scotland to book their spot in the semifinals.

That wasn’t too stressful an encounter either, as India didn’t slip up from their role as the favourites. After restricting England to 113, it took India only 15 overs and the loss of one wicket to reach the target and book their spot in the finals. It has been a story of India’s top order — in particular openers G Kamalini and G Trisha, who have been in sublime form — just utterly dominating opposition, with Trisha bringing up the first century in the history of this tournament with a beatdown against Scotland.

India have only lost 14 wickets in 6 games, most of those coming against Sri Lanka, when they lost 9. The openers and top order have shown that they are a class apart in this age group, and to make matters even scarier for the young Proteas, the top two highest wicket-getters in the tournament are Vaishnavi Sharma with 15 and Aayushi Shukla with 12.

Nonetheless, South Africa pack some firepower of their own. Their bowling is led by captain Kayla Reyneke, who also bats at number three and has 10 wickets this tournament, as well as a pace-bowling unit with the most wickets in the tournament. The Proteas will also be glad that the pitch being used for the final at the Bayumeas Oval is not one of the local red-soil pitches, which Indian spinners have wreaked havoc on all tournament long, but instead the more pace- and batting-friendly pitches imported from Australia.

South Africa’s concern will be that their batting hasn’t faced too much of a challenge in the tournament, with some straightforward chases against weaker opposition paving the way to their semifinals, where they did bat well to overcome Australia. Will they have enough momentum to try and upset India? It will be a tough task, and the odds will heavily favour the defending champions, but the U-19 team will be hungry to go one better than their senior teams did in 2024 by pulling through in a final.