India Women’s Cricket Team Named National Team of the Year at Sportstar Aces 2026

The Indian women’s cricket team was named National Team of the Year at the Sportstar Aces Awards on Friday.

India lifted its first-ever ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup title, defeating South Africa by 52 runs in the final at D.Y. Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai.

“We enjoyed this a lot. Despite the first three games, we didn’t get nervous. Even after losing, we still had confidence — and that’s the sign of a good team. We kept believing that the deeper we went into the tournament, the closer we would get to having a real chance of winning,” Deepti Sharma, who received the award alongside Sneh Rana and Aavishkar Salvi said.

“The belief we had was very strong. We started planning everything six months in advance — working on strategies, practicing a lot and constantly backing ourselves. Even after losses, we never lost that belief. We even made a trophy and said we wanted to lift that cup one day. You could call it manifestation — and eventually, it happened,” Sneh said.

India’s campaign was far from straightforward. Early wins over Sri Lanka and Pakistan were followed by three consecutive defeats that left the host side on the brink of elimination. A crucial victory over New Zealand in a must-win encounter revived its campaign and secured a semifinal berth.

In the semifinal, India produced one of the tournament’s greatest chases, hunting down a record 338 against seven-time champion Australia, powered by a sublime century from Jemimah Rodrigues.

In the final, Shafali Verma anchored the innings with a composed 87 to lay the foundation for India’s total, before Deepti Sharma, the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with 22 scalps and Player of the Tournament, produced a five-wicket haul to seal the title.

The 2026 Sportstar Aces Awards are presented by Amul, co-presented by Casagrand in association with SRM Institute of Science and Technology. SBI, Christ University, Bharat Petroleum, LIC, Sports Authority of Telangana, NTPC, Indian Softball Cricket Foundation, Jaquar And Company Private Limited are associate partners. Reva University is the education partner. Blue Star is the cooling partner while Times Now is the telecast partner.

Published on Mar 13, 2026