Follow UsWhen the Indian women’s team is mentioned, many Indian cricket fans would think of Mithali Raj, Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur. A little more thought and Jhulan Goswami’s name would come up among the bowlers. For many Indian cricket fans, the name Poonam Yadav was relatively unknown. Until they heard what happened in the opening match of the 2020 T20 World Cup against Australia.
India were trying to defend a modest 133 and despite losing Beth Mooney and skipper Meg Lanning, Australia had a long line of capable batters. Alyssa Healy was in good rhythm and had completed her fifty when she got a loopy legbreak from Yadav. She tried to work it on the leg-side but the ball took the top edge and floated comfortably back to the bowler.
Then it was Rachael Haynes, who misread the wrong-un and was stumped by the keeper. The great Ellyse Perry walked in next and Yadav castled her for a first-ball duck. From 55/2, Australia were suddenly hobbling at 76/5. India dug their way out to a 17-run win, thanks to Yadav’s 4-19. She could’ve gotten a fifer, but the ball that rattled Ashleigh Gardner’s stumps bounced twice and was deemed no ball.
Though she became the poster child of India’s fabled spin attack on that day, the leg-spinner from Agra has been the go-to bowler for the team for close to a decade. She is the highest wicket-taker for India in T20Is with 98 wickets from 72 matches and is seventh on the ODI list with 79 wickets from 57 matches.
She has a killer wrong-un, the classical leg-break and a threatening slider. Besides the flipper, which she has been working on since the last year, Yadav has all the tools of a world-class leg spinner.
Even as a young child, Yadav was a menace to the boys in her street. They would come to her mother with complaints that she should not be playing with boys. When her mother would rebuke her, Yadav would reply: “They are telling me not to play because they are scared that I will get all of them out.”
Another important aspect of Yadav’s game is her control on speed. She could bowl a regulation opening spell and then substantially bring down the pace on the ball while keeping her trajectory and release points similar.
While this tactic has a huge advantage in catching the opponents off-guard in the T20 format, the ODIs pose a different challenge for her while bowling a full quota of 10 overs. Batters could figure out the pattern and choose when to attack her. Her tendency to go for wrong-uns quite often has aided the batters in figuring her out.
Finishing as the second highest wicket-taker in the 2020 World Cup, Yadav’s stock in the T20 format went up by a notch, but her efficacy in the ODI game has seen a downward curve. After enjoying her best years in the 50-overs format with 20 wickets each in 2017 and 2018 followed by 19 wickets in 2019, she has only managed four wickets from eight matches at an average of 88.3 last year.
She went wicketless in the home series against South Africa and managed just three wickets in the ODI series against England. The loss of form had also seen her sit out five of the seven matches in the series against Australia, but things looked different when she played for Brisbane Heat in the Women’s Big Bash (WBBL). In 13 matches, she claimed 10 wickets at an average of 28, to finish as the second highest wicket-taker for the team as they reached playoffs.
She played three of the five ODIs in the recent series against New Zealand. Despite finishing with three wickets, Yadav had a good economy of 4.6 RPO. Her spot in the playing XI was a no-brainer in the past three World Cups due to her good form, but in the 2022 World Cup, she will be competing with Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Rajeshwari Gayakwad and Ekta Bisht.
But more often than not, she has made good of her chances in the big-ticket events by reaching double figures at the 2017 ODI World Cup and 2020 T20 World Cup alongside finishing with eight wickets in the 2018 T20 World Cup.