the goan I network
VASCO
The victorious Goa women's cricket team arrived home on Wednesday afternoon after emerging champions in BCCI Plate Group Senior Women's One-Day League in Kolkata. The Goan women cricket team captained by Shikha Pandey, beat Bengal at the Eden Gardens on Tuesday, to spark celebrations in cricket fraternity in the state with their entry into India's women's Elite Group.
The triumphant team were welcomed at the airport by GCA managing committee and also members of U-16 girls cricket team. India all-rounder and Goa captain Shikha Pandey said it is a great pride for her to win the title for Goa. She also said that Bengal team was the toughest team in the league. "We were a part of Plate group of domestic season. After winning the domestic season we are now a part of Elite and we will get to play with one of the best teams in the country like Railways who have been playing well. It was a great experience to win the final against Bengal which was a tough team with two Indian team players. It was a team effort and everybody contributed for the victory. We were relegated last year but to go back and play well this year and win the finals was a great experience,"said Pandey, who emerged the leading wicket-taker in the Plate Group with 18 scalps from six games.
Pandey also said that women'e cricket was getting a lot of recognition now."When I came back from the World Cup, I did not have so many people to welcome at the arrival .The best part of playing for Goa is that the people and especially GCA never differentiated amongst male and female cricketers. We had the GCA president and committee members welcoming us and for the efforts we put in, recognition itself is more than enough," said Pandey.
Vice-captain of Goa, Sunanda Yetrekar said the final was tough and the team had to face a lot of pressure to perform well."It was a tough competition with all close matches but there was pressure on the team in the finals. The advantage was, we had won a T20 match on the same ground and we knew we could do it again," said Yetrekar.
