Poonam Yadav (born 24 August 1991) is an Indian

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er who plays for the national women's cricket team as a

leg-spin Leg spin is a type of spin bowling in cricket. A bowler who uses this technique is called a leg spinner. Leg spinners bowl with their right-arm and a wrist spin action. The leg spinner's normal delivery is called a leg break, which spins from ...

bowler. She made her debut in International cricket on 5 April 2013 in a

Women's Twenty20 International Women's Twenty20 international (WT20I) is the shortest form of women's international cricket. A women's Twenty20 international is a 20 overs-per-side cricket match between two of the International Cricket Council (ICC) members. The very firs ...

(WT20I) match against

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

. Yadav's Test debut, on 16 November 2014, was against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

and her ODI debut, on 12 April 2013, was against

Early life

Yadav was born in

Mainpuri Mainpuri (; ) is a city in Mainpuri district in the States and territories of India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is the administrative headquarters of Mainpuri district and is 55 km from Etawah and 294 km from New Delhi. Mainp ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

, to Raghuveer Yadav, a retired army officer, and Munna Devi, a homemaker. To pursue her career, Yadav had to shift to

Agra Agra ( ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra is the ...

from

. There she trained at the

Eklavya Sports Stadium Eklavya Sports Stadium is cricket stadium located in Agra, Uttar Pradesh state of India. The stadium is named after very famous student of India at the time of "Mahabharata", Eklavya. The ground has floodlights so that the stadium can host da ...

. Three years later, Yadav almost quit cricket but was motivated by her father to continue further.

International career

Yadav was part of the Indian team to reach the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

of the

2017 Women's Cricket World Cup The 2017 Women's Cricket World Cup was an international women's cricket tournament that took place in England from 24 June to 23 July 2017. It was the eleventh edition of the Women's Cricket World Cup, and the third to be held in England (after ...

where the team lost to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

by nine runs.England v India: Women's World Cup final – live!
''The Guardian'', 23 July 2017. In June 2018, she entered the top five of the women's T20I rankings and came in third on the list. In October 2018, she was named in India's squad for the

2018 ICC Women's World Twenty20 The 2018 Women's World Twenty20 was the sixth edition of the Women's World Twenty20, hosted in the West Indies from 9 to 24 November 2018. It the second World Twenty20 hosted by the West Indies (after the 2010 edition), and the West Indies wer ...

tournament in the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

. Ahead of the tournament, she was named as one of the players to watch. She was the joint-leading wicket-taker for India in the tournament, with eight dismissals in five matches. She became India's highest wicket-taker in Twenty20 Internationals in September 2018 with 57 wickets from 39 T20Is. She went past Jhulan Goswami's tally of 56 in the first T20I against

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

. She is also the only front-line bowler who has been in every T20 match for India in 2018. In January 2020, she was named in India's squad for the

2020 ICC Women's T20 World Cup The 2020 Women's T20 World Cup was the seventh Women's T20 World Cup tournament. It was held in Australia between 21 February and 8 March 2020. The 2020 Women's T20 World Cup final, final took place at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Internati ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. India reached the

but lost to the hosts, with Yadav taking 1-30 (her solitary wicket being that of

Rachael Haynes Rachael Louise Haynes (born 26 December 1986) is an Australian former international cricketer who has won six world championships as a member of the national women's team. A left-handed batter, Haynes was vice-captain of Australia from 2017 to ...

) and scoring 1 run before being last out to confirm

's victory. Her best bowling performance came in the opening game against the eventual champions

, where she wreaked havoc with figures of 4-0-19-4 In May 2021, she was named in India's

Test squad Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

for their one-off match against the

England women's cricket team The England women's cricket team represents England and Wales in international women's cricket. Since 1998, they have been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), having been previously governed by the Women's Cricket Associatio ...

. In January 2022, she was named in India's team for the

2022 Women's Cricket World Cup The 2022 ICC Women's Cricket World Cup was the twelfth edition of the Women's Cricket World Cup, which was held in New Zealand in March and April 2022. It was originally scheduled for 6 February to 7 March 2021 but was postponed by one year due ...

in New Zealand.

T20 Leagues

Poonam played for Supernovas in the Women's T20 Challenge in 2019 and 2022. She played for

Brisbane Heat The Brisbane Heat are an Australian professional franchise men's and women's cricket team, competing in Australia's domestic Twenty20 cricket competition, the Big Bash League (BBL). The Heat are the successors of the Queensland Bulls who playe ...

in the 2021–22 Women's Big Bash League.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Yadav, Poonam 1991 births Living people Sportspeople from Agra India women Test cricketers India women One Day International cricketers India women Twenty20 International cricketers Cricketers from Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh women cricketers Central Zone women cricketers Railways women cricketers IPL Trailblazers cricketers IPL Supernovas cricketers Delhi Capitals (WPL) cricketers Brisbane Heat (WBBL) cricketers Indian expatriate cricketers in Australia Recipients of the Arjuna Award People from Mainpuri