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The India Women's U19 created history on Sunday, January 29, when they beat England by seven wickets in the final to lift the maiden ICC Women's U19 T20 World Cup trophy.
Under the leadership of international star Shafali Verma, India lost just one game in the tournament - against Australia in the group stage - before defeating New Zealand and England in the knockouts.
The Girls in Blue were dominant in all major aspects of the game en route to their title triumph, following which the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) also organized a felicitation ceremony for them at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Wednesday, February 1, ahead of the third India-New Zealand T20I.
India's previous T20 World Cup win was back in 2007 when the MS Dhoni-led team clinched the inaugural Men's T20 World Cup.
Interestingly enough, there have been quite a few similarities between both India's U-19 Women's T20 World Cup win and the Men's T20 World Cup triumph of 2007.
On that note, let's take a look at three such similarities between the two wins.
#1 Both tournaments were inaugural ICC events
First and foremost, it's fascinating to know that both the Men's T20 World Cup (2007) and the Women's U19 T20 World Cup (2023), which were won by India, were the inaugural editions of the respective tournaments.
While the Women's U19 T20 World Cup tournament was initially scheduled to take place in 2021, it was postponed to 2023 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with India recently becoming the maiden champions of the event.
In 2007, the Men in Blue also became the winners of the maiden Men's T20 World Cup, beating Pakistan in a nail-biting final.
#2 Both tournaments were held in South Africa
Incidentally, both T20 World Cup wins for India came on South African soil.
While the Women's U19 T20 World Cup was held in the city of Potchefstroom and Benoni, the Men's T20 World Cup 2006 took place in three cities - Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Durban.
#3 A fast bowler winning the Man of the Match award in the final for India
There's a saying that 'batters win you matches, but bowlers win you tournaments'. This was aptly true for India in both their T20 World Cup triumphs as the bowling department performed as a well-oiled machine.
Interestingly enough, in the finals of both the Men's T20 World Cup in 2007 and the Woman's U-19 World Cup win, a pacer delivered a great performance and won the Player of the Match award for India.
While Titas Sadhu recently broke England's back with her spell of 2/6 to set up a win for India, Irfan Pathan delivered his career-best T20I figures of 3/16 against Pakistan in the T20 World Cup 2007 final.
Both Sadhu and Pathan were adjudged the Player of the Match in their respective summit clashes.
