- Poonam Yadav was born on 24 August 1991 in Agra
- Her father is a retired army officer.
- Poonam’s father was strictly against her pursuing a career in sports.
- However, Hemlata, her coach convinced him and he agreed.
- Even though her family was on her side, Poonam had to face sexism from all quarters.
- Poonam was the only girl to play with boys and was always teased by her teammates.
- ‘Cricket is a gentleman’s game’ and ‘girls should not play cricket’ is what was constantly told to her.
- This made her more determined to prove herself better than them.
- Her domestic/state teams were Central Zone, Uttar Pradesh, and Railways.
- To pursue her career, they shifted to Agra.
- Three years later, Poonam almost quit cricket but was motivated by her father to continue further.
- Poonam started off as a medium pacer but later changed her style to leg spinner.
- Poonam is just 5’1” which restricted other options available to her for a sports career.
- Later the same proved to be a boon for her in cricket – her height provides her a high trajectory making it difficult for the batter to guess where the ball will land.
- She made her international debut in 2013 against Bangladesh in the Women’s T20 International tournament.
- Poonam has been a part of just a single test match. That was on 16th Nov 2014 against South Africa.
- She is a part of the Indian team for the 2018 ICC Women’s World Twenty20 tournament and was very spectacular.
- She became India’s highest wicket-taker in Twenty20 Internationals in September 2018 with 57 wickets from 39 T20Is
- Poonam is the only front-line bowler to feature in every T20 match for India.
- Whenever the captain finds the team in trouble, Poonam comes in there for the rescue and she has shaped many victories for the Indian team with her economical bowling and wickets.
Team female cricket is proud to share such an inspiring story of Poonam. We wish her all the love and luck for the future!
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