Vaishnavi Sharma Dominates U19 Women's T20 World Cup with 5 Wickets and Hat-Trick on Debut

At the ICC Under-19 Women’s T20 World Cup 2024, Vaishnavi Sharma made an unforgettable debut with five wickets and a hat trick against Malaysia in their Group A match. The 19-year-old from Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh is the first cricketer from the Chambal region to represent India. She also won the Jagmohan Dalmiya Trophy for Best Woman Cricketer in the Junior Domestic season of 2022 23 and started her cricket journey at just five years old, reports NDTV.

Vaishnavi Sharma wasn’t first chosen to start in India’s early games in the tournament, but filled in for

Sonam Yadav after their West Indies game. In an interview with BSTV MP-CG, she says her journey is from Tansen Cricket Academy in Gwalior where she has spent countless hours on the field, working towards being the cricketer she is today.

“Whenever she is in Gwalior she comes to the academy where she puts in seven hours daily, three in the morning and the four in the evening. I believe that she has worked hard and now she is the first from around here to play in the World Cup," her coach said.

The Malaysian batters were left stunned by Vaishnavi Sharma’s spell. She was asked to bowl in the eighth over and she never looked back, taking charge. In reflecting on her performance, Vaishnavi spoke about her journey and revealed her idol is senior international cricketer Radha Yadav.

First hat-trick of #U19WorldCup 2025 ✅
Five-wicket haul ✅

Vaishnavi Sharma takes home the @aramco POTM for her dream spell against Malaysia 👏 pic.twitter.com/feKMutFVT9

— ICC (@ICC) January 21, 2025

“It’s a dream debut. This was a dream to take a hat-trick and a fifer on debut. The journey was good; it had some ups and downs, but the dream is complete. As for my idol, it’s Radha Yadav in the women’s team and Jadeja sir from the women’s team. I was told on the first day that I would get to play. We have a lot of left-armers, and everyone is so supportive," Vaishnavi said.

“It was a simple plan; I wanted to bowl according to the conditions and the batter. This means to check if the batters are shuffling or moving around the crease and things like that. It was a simple plan to attack the stump line," Vaishnavi concluded.