Leg spinner Poonam Yadav is just 4 feet and 11 inches tall. She is, in fact, the shortest member of Team India currently in Australia playing in the ICC Women's Twenty 20 World Cup. But don't go by her short stature―the 28-year-old is one of the most experienced and senior members of Team India―the nucleus of India's bowling attack. She has also been the leading wicket-taker in T20Is over the last two years.
On Friday in Melbourne, bowling to the strong Australian side in the opening match of the tournament, Yadav came in the 10th over when Australia were cantering at an easy pace towards their target of 132. They had eight wickets in hand and all-rounder Alyssa Healy had just completed her half-century. And then she was out, caught and bowled to regulation leg spin of Yadav. Her other prized scalps included Rachael Haynes, Ellyse Perry and Jess Jonassen.
Soon enough, the Indian leggie had taken three more wickets in her next 11 deliveries missing a hat-trick by a whisker in the process. Her 4-19 literally stalled the Aussie chase and eventually resulted in a massive win for the Women in Blue in their first match of the competition. All this from a bowler who came straight into the competition post an injury to the index finger of her non-bowling arm. She had sat out of the tri-series preceding the T20 World Cup. The Indian team management had told her that the World Cup was the main deal, and they would rather focus on her full recovery and preparation than risk her in the tri-series.
Hailing from Agra, Yadav made her India debut in ODIs and T20s in 2013; she is one of the four players currently in the squad who has played a Test match―others being Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana and Shikha Pandey.
Her childhood coach Manoj Kuswah was delighted, yet not suprised by the mayhem Yadav yielded with the ball in Friday's match. “To come back straight from an injury and bowl the way she did is indeed very satisfying. She planned very well,” he said. “I spoke to her the day before the match. She understands the importance of the occasion, its her fifth World Cup (ODI and T20I) and while there is always pressure she was focused on her job.”
Yadav wasn't bowling just the conventional leg spin, it was her googly and top spin―the slowness of the delivery―some of her deliveries were as slow as 60 kmph and the revolutions she is able to to put on the ball which completely foxed the batters that did the four time champions in.
Healy, while speaking to the media post-match, said her variations and slow pace bamboozled the Aussie batters. “We prepared really well. She bowled the first over pretty regulation as a leg-spinner then slowed it up immensely after that. We probably didn't adapt well enough. We don't get leg-spinners coming down at 60kmph very often and she's incredibly skillful.”
Yadav's journey from Thrive Cricket Academy to Team India is about a lot of passion, sincerity, hard work to excel at the sport she loves. According to Kuswah, a former player-turned-coach, her evolution has been consistent ever since her India debut in 2013.
“She initially started as a medium pacer but our coach advised her to bowl spin keeping in mind her height and small frame. She has worked a lot to develop variations,” Kuswah said. “In fact, what you see today is a result of all the work put in not just by us here in Agra, but also India coaches like Ramesh Powar and now a legend like Narendra Hirwani. She is aware of her strength which is to outfox the batter by drawing them out of their crease with her flight, delivery and slow pace. She also has an arm ball which she hasn't used yet.”
Daughter of a retired ex-serviceman, who is now working in the education department of the Uttar Pradesh government in Hathras in West UP, Yadav came to the Academy in 2010. Agra has become a hub for women's cricket and has a proud tradition to boast of. It has given India players in past like Hemlata Kala and Preeti Dimri; Yadav's current teammate Deepti Sharma, too, hails from Agra.
Finding a cricket academy for girls was not difficult. Agra has given two senior India players currently playing; there are two players from Agra in India A team presently. “We have 15 girls playing in different teams in domestic circuit from here. When she came she too was made to play with Under-17 and Under-19 boys. Even now, she is made to train and practice with the boys in the academy,” Kuswah said.
Yadav was chosen for the Arjuna award in 2019 for her consistent performances for the Women in Blue. She was also chosen as the best woman cricketer of the year by the BCCI in their annual award in January.
The T20 World Cup has just started for Poonam Yadav and it wont be a surprise that she would be topping the bowling charts in the competition given her regular knack to do so.