When India lifted the ODI World Cup for the first time in history last year, Pooja Vastrakar watched from the sidelines. There was pride, joy and celebration, but also the unavoidable reality that she had missed the biggest moment of her career. For close to 15 months, Vastrakar’s cricketing life revolved around recovery rooms, rehabilitation sessions and uncertainty rather than match days.
A shoulder injury that had initially been managed through injections eventually required surgery, forcing the fast-bowling all-rounder out of not only India’s victorious ODI World Cup campaign but also the ongoing T20 World Cup. Yet if there is one thing that stands out from Vastrakar’s story, it is the absence of self-pity. “I would have felt bad if I hadn’t done things the right way. But I know that I worked honestly and hard every single day, every single night. So I didn’t feel bad about not being a part of [the ODI World Cup], and obviously, the team did so well,” she told ESPNcricinfo.
The injury itself was not a sudden setback. Vastrakar had been managing a tear in her right shoulder for nearly 18 months. Doctors initially advised that surgery wasn’t immediately necessary, allowing her to continue through pain management and injections. But after India’s disappointing exit from the 2024 Women’s T20 World Cup, the pain worsened. Having already taken four injections within a year, surgery became unavoidable.
“We had planned the surgery in a way that I would have had eight months to recover, but that didn’t happen because even after eight months, I hadn’t got my range back. After being in these situations so many times, it doesn’t bother you anymore. You know how to deal with it,” Vastrakar said.
The delayed recovery was particularly cruel because injuries have followed her throughout much of her career. Before becoming an India regular, she underwent ACL surgeries on both knees, missing the 2018 T20 World Cup in the process. But this shoulder injury proved to be the longest layoff of her professional life.
Rather than viewing rehabilitation as wasted time, Vastrakar turned it into an opportunity to better understand her body. She spoke extensively with doctors, physiotherapists and fellow cricketers at the BCCI Centre of Excellence, learning about recovery methods, workload management and the physical demands of fast bowling. She has often said that long rehabilitation periods can teach players as much as any coach or trainer.
Among the people who left the biggest impression on her was Jasprit Bumrah, another fast bowler who knows exactly what it feels like to spend months away from the game. “I had a lot of conversations with Boom bhai during that period. He explained, ‘If I look at my career, many similar things happened to me too. For a long time, I have also been out, doing rehab for six months.
Then I had surgery, so a year-and-a-half went into all this.’ He basically just said these things will keep happening; all you can do is focus on your process and whatever is in your control.” That perspective helped Vastrakar navigate one of the toughest periods of her career.
Her return finally arrived earlier this year. Royal Challengers Bengaluru retained faith in her despite her lack of match practice, and she rejoined familiar faces such as Smriti Mandhana, Radha Yadav, Shreyanka Patil and Arundhati Reddy. Before the WPL final, Vastrakar remembers sitting alongside Mandhana and Radha, admitting that nerves had started creeping in ahead of her first major game after such a lengthy absence.
What followed was a conversation that put everything into perspective. Having already experienced the pressure of a World Cup final, Mandhana and Radha felt comparatively relaxed. They even joked about moments from India’s historic triumph, including Mandhana’s surprise at having played a maiden over during the final because the occasion itself had been so overwhelming. For Vastrakar, it was another reminder of what the team had achieved while she was away—and what she still wanted to be part of moving forward.
Signs of a successful comeback are already visible. In the Madhya Pradesh Women’s T20 League, she showcased her batting credentials, scoring 122 runs in five matches at a strike rate exceeding 150 while leading Chambal Ghariyals to the title. More importantly, she emerged from the tournament fit and optimistic.
There remains no fixed timeline for her return to the Indian side. But Vastrakar is not interested in setting deadlines or making bold predictions. Her focus remains exactly where it should be: on the process. “I am young. I don’t want to overthink. I want to just work hard, and the rest will follow. I have faith that I will bounce back,” she said.
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