A sensational spell from Poonam Yadav saw India stun Australia in the first game of the ICC Women’s T-20 World Cup at Sydney.
Chasing 133 to win, Australia were bowled out for 115 in 19.5 overs, courtesy a brilliant performance from Indian spinners, especially Poonam Yadav.
Earlier, put in to bat, India thanks to an unbeaten 49 from Deepti Sharma posted a challenging total on the board.
Poonam Yadav – The girl with a golden arm
Poonam Yadav in a match vs Australia women Image credits: DNA India
Poonam Yadav was at her absolute best in the match, picking up 4 crucial wickets for 19 runs in her quota of 4 overs. At 58-2 in 9 overs, Australia had the match in their grasp but the introduction of Poonam Yadav in the 10th over saw the tides turn in favour of India.
Poonam first got rid of a dangerous looking Alyssa Healy with a beautiful, floaty leg break, inducing a soft leading edge back to her and backed it up with the wickets of Rachael Haynes and Ellyse Perry of consecutive deliveries in her next over to put India on the top.
Both Haynes and Perry fell prey to the loopy wrong-uns, getting dismissed stumped and clean bowled respectively. In her third over, she got Jess Jonassen sweeping to another googly, only to get a faint bottom edge through to the keeper.
Poonam was well supported by Shikha Pandey who picked 3-14 in 3.5 overs.
Consistency makes Poonam Yadav so vital for India
Jubilant Poonam shines Image Credit: Latestly
Since her debut, Poonam has been an integral cog in the Indian T-20 set up. In the 63 T-20Is that she has played till date, she has picked up 89 wickets at an astonishing average of 14.23. Add to that a brilliant economy of 5.60.
She made her T-20 debut India against Bangladesh women in 2013 and immediately made an impression with a 3 wicket haul. That day till today, she has bowled with immense consistency and have paved for numerous wins for India. She thrives on deceiving the batsmen in her flight and has a lethal googly to go along with traditional leg breaks.
Poonam Yadav will be crucial in the upcoming matches
Poonam Yadav celebrating with Deepti Bhatia Image Credit: Sakshi Post
India will next play against Bangladesh, a team Poonam loves playing. In the 8 T-20Is against the neighbours, Poonam has 17 wickets to her name at an average of 6.94. Fittingly her career best figure of 4-9 also came against Bangladesh in 2018. Moreover, they play New Zealand and Sri Lanka at Melbourne, a ground known to assist spinners. If she can continue performing the way she is, this world cup could well turn out to be hers.
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