Player of the Tournament Gargi Bhogle, Best Bowlers Bhumika Bhadriraju and Ritu Singh, plus Best Batter Lisa Ramjit feature in the 2021 USA Women's U19 National Championship All-Tournament Team. 

Image credit: Peter Della Penna

By Peter Della Penna (Twitter @PeterDellaPenna)

The following is a group of best performers from the recently concluded 2021 USA Women's U19 National Championships in Florida. Players were chosen based on their performances throughout the three days of matches at the Broward County Stadium with extra emphasis given to those who excelled under pressure and in winning performances beyond what may show up in statistical data. A reminder that this is a compilation of the top performers at this specific event and not necessarily the best 11 or 14 players that may make up a future USA Women's U19 national team squad selected by USA Cricket, which takes into consideration consistent performances over a historical length of time. The squad picked below has been chosen solely by the reporter on site who was present at all matches, and does not necessarily reflect the views of USA Women's coaches, selectors, administrators or DreamCricket website management. 
 
1. Gargi Bhogle (West) – The Player of the Tournament, ended with a tournament best strike rate of 115.09 (minimum of 25 balls faced), the only player in the qualification to have a strike rate above a run a ball. She 61 runs in her only two innings, with a best of 34 not out in the tournament opener as part of an unbroken 65-run partnership in a 10-wicket romp over East. She also teamed with captain Anika Kolan for a vital 57-run eighth wicket stand in the last match to ensure West finished undefeated. Bhogle ended unbeaten on both occasions, one of two players along with Kolan who were never dismissed in the tournament.
 
2. Laasya Mullapudi (West) – Won a Player of the Match award for her top score of 40 in match number three, her only innings of the event. She showed a great deal of confidence in that knock coming back down to junior level after ending the senior tournament a week earlier with her best knock of the event.
 
3. Chetna Reddy Pagydyala (West) – One of the youngest players at the tournament, the 13-year-old was impressive with her strength and timing at the crease, crunching 35 in a Player of the Match performance in the second T20. Her five boundaries tied her for second overall at the event and her physical strength marks her out as a very promising player to keep an eye on for senior USA Women’s consideration in the next few years.
 
4. Lisa Ramjit (East) – The East captain was one of the few bright spots in a very thin lineup. The team’s dependence on her was underscored by the fact that she was the leading scorer in the event despite only batting three times to total 82 runs. She also struck the most boundaries at the event with seven and was very alert at attacking slow bowling by using her feet.
 
5. Anika Kolan (West, capt/wk) – Like Bhogle, somebody whose raw stats at the event might not show how far above the rest of the field she actually was. The 14-year-old’s awareness in terms of her running between the wickets is the best in America at both junior and senior level on the women’s side and it contributes significantly to not just her own scores but her partners too. She batted three times, finishing not out on each occasion to end with 55 runs tied for third with Pagydyala.
 
6. Aditi Chudasama (East) – The New Jersey batter showed the confidence that was lacking in her performances at the East Women’s Regionals in North Carolina. She ended tied for fifth in runs and produced the highest strike rate innings of the tournament, using her feet very intelligently against West’s spinners to pick gaps at will in an unbeaten 26 off 18 balls in match three.
 
7. Tya Gonsalves (West) – Gonsalves showed good technical skills both in her batting and was the most economical spin bowler at the event keeping batters tied down with a 3.86 economy. Aside from that, she more than earned her spot in the team for her brilliant fielding. East opener Disha Dhingra may have nightmares about Gonsalves following the tournament. After Gonsalves pulled off an incredible one-handed stab at midwicket to dismiss Dhingra on day one, Gonsalves showed it was no accident by producing a near carbon copy effort inside the ring once again to dismiss Dhingra in the finale. Gonsalves also contributed to a runout in the field, marking her as hands down the best fielder in Florida.
 
8. Bhumika Bhadriraju (East) – The joint winner of the Best Bowler award, Bhadriraju nearly spun East to an upset of West on the final day with her spell of 3 for 5 in four overs. That included a double-wicket maiden in which she claimed the prized scalp of Isani Vaghela for a golden duck. She ended as the leading wicket-taker at the event with four wickets overall.
 
9. Ritu Singh (West) – The other half of the Best Bowler award share, Singh had the best average at the event at an average of 9.00. She also struck once every 14 balls, also the best in the event. She regularly challenged batters with disciplined lines forcing them to play. Singh was also statistically the most efficient non-wicketkeeper fielder in the tournament, taking part in a combined four catches and runouts.
 
10. Sai Eyyunni (West) – Bhadriraju may have taken the most wickets but Eyyunni was arguably just as impressive with her contrasting style of spin for the West. The legspinner was expensive at times with an economy of 6.33, but some credit goes to Kolan and coach Mario Rampersaud for sticking with Eyyunni after she got hit hard in her first few overs as she eventually produced the results expected of a legspinner, nabbing the big wickets of Ramjit (for 29) and Geetika Kodali in the opening 10-wicket win for West.
 
11. Suhani Thadani (West) – Just barely missed making the senior Women’s All-Tournament XI, but was impossible to leave out from this squad after her opening spell on day one which set the tone for West’s dominance across the three-day tournament. Thadani bowled a double-wicket maiden to spark West in the field in the first T20, eventually helping restrict East to 64 in West’s 10-wicket win.
 
12^th. Snigdha Paul (West) – Like she did in the senior Women’s event, kept things tight with the ball producing a 3.00 economy rate, the best in the tournament. With the bat, she may have played the shot of the entire junior and senior women’s tournaments in Florida, cracking a laser of a cut shot behind point for a boundary against East U19s. Like she showed in the women’s event with her technical precision, she has the capacity to develop into a genuine class allrounder with more experience and opportunities.
 
13^th. Isani Vaghela (West) – One of the most talented players in American women’s cricket but was rotated out for much of the event to give other players who did not participate in the senior women’s tournament an opportunity to play, Vaghela still produced one of the highlights of either the junior or senior event when she heaved the only six over deep midwicket, showcasing her incredible timing. 
 
14^th. Disha Dhingra (East) – Like Mullapudi, showed a bit more confidence coming back down to junior level after a week competing in the East senior side. Dhingra finished sixth overall in runs and would have probably climbed higher than that had Gonsalves not been hovering inside the ring on the pair of rare instances when she didn’t keep the ball along the ground. Dhingra was also a very capable fielder, finishing with one catch while also contributing to two runouts.