- Pooja Vastrakar was born on 25th November 1999 in Shahdol, Madhya Pradesh, India.
- She is the youngest of 7 siblings, with 4 sisters and 2 brothers.
- She started playing cricket while she was just 4 years of age.
- Watching Sehwag bat fearlessly and reading about the great players in the women’s team inspired her to take up cricket.
- Pooja has an athlete sister who played at the national level.
- Unfortunately, Pooja lost her mother when she was 10.
- Her first-ever coach was Ashutosh Srivastava, a BCCI Level 1 Coach.
- She started her career as a batter.
- Her bowling talent was spotted by Coach Rekha Punekar which made her regular opening bowler.
- At the age of 13, she got selected as a bowler for the Madhya Pradesh state cricket team.
- At 15, while attempting for a catch she twisted her ankle, due to which she missed the Asia cup.
- She played U19 after injury, then was selected to play for India A against touring Bangladesh A team in 2017.
- She made her Women’s One Day International cricket debut for India Women against South Africa Women on 10 February 2018.
- She made her Women’s Twenty20 International cricket (WT20I) debut for India Women against South Africa Women on 13 February 2018.
- An injury before the main games of the T20 World Cup in 2018 was disheartening for Pooja Vastrakar.
- She holds a world-record of hitting a half-century batting at no 9 in a women’s ODI game.
- She is called Hardik Bhaiya or Babloo by her teammates.
- She feels proud to have inspired a lot of young girls from Shahdol and the whole country to play cricket.
- Pooja Vastrakar missed all Internationals that India played since the WT20 2018 due to injury.
- She is now making a comeback in the Indian squad nearly after a year for South Africa series.
- Team Female Cricket wishes all the best to Pooja Vastrakar on this comeback
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