February 21, 2020, the Indian women’s team are embroiled in a titanic tussle against their Australian counterparts at the T20 World Cup. The Women In Blue have done well to post 132 on the board. But when Alyssa Healy tees off, the Southern Stars tighten their grasp on the game.
At one stage, the Indians are staring down the abyss. They have conceded too many runs in the powerplay and don’t have enough runs to play with. And then, something clicks. Or, more precisely, Poonam Yadav enters the fray.
The leg-spinner has, throughout her international career, been one of India’s primary wicket-taking options in white-ball cricket. This, though, seems an arduous mountain to scale – even for someone of her caliber.
At first, there is skepticism because she is seemingly bowling very slow. The batters seem to have lots of time to decipher her variations and of course, transfer the pressure onto her.
However, that is just what Poonam is preying on. She gives the batters so much time that they ultimately get bamboozled. She outwits Healy and then runs through the rest of the batting unit, meaning that India, quite astonishingly, pull a victory out of the fire.
For many who had watched just that game at Sydney, this was a glorious aberration. That could not be farther from the truth. Poonam has, over the course of her career, been an excellent servant for Indian cricket – in both T20Is and ODIs.
As things stand, the leg-spinner averages 25.15 in ODIs, having bagged 79 wickets in 57 matches. She also boasts a healthy economy rate of 3.98 and a strike rate of 37.8, indicating that she can keep a lid on the run-scoring, while also being a potent wicket-taking weapon.
Apart from her exploits at the 2020 T20 World Cup, Poonam has had several exceptional performances for India. The 2017 Women’s World Cup, where India reached the final, is a perfect case in point. Throughout that tournament, Poonam was at her best, kept the batters guessing and picked up 11 wickets in nine games – at an average of 26 and an economy rate of 3.86.
While the average was a shade higher than what she has managed in her career, it was still an illustration that she is a handful, even on relatively unresponsive pitches.
More recently, though, Poonam has endured a blip on her road to greatness. Since the start of 2021, her fortunes in ODI cricket have dipped drastically. She has only scalped seven wickets and has done so at an average of 69.42. In the recently concluded series against New Zealand, she wasn’t a guaranteed starter either and only played three (out of five) fixtures.
From a pure statistical standpoint, it can be said that Poonam is perhaps not at the peak of her powers. She has not managed to keep the run-rate in check and has seemingly lost her ability to prize out wickets too. There is also a school of thought suggesting that batters have worked out how to tackle her dexterity.
All that, however, could become moot if Poonam can, like she did in the 2017 Women’s World Cup and the 2020 T20 World Cup, conjure magic. Back then, she had form on her side and she optimized it completely. This time, she doesn’t have the numbers to back up a permanent starting berth.
Yet, her previous record and tendency to rise to the big occasion means India might be better served taking a punt on her. Not just because she picks heaps of wickets when on song, but also because she can single-handedly win games of cricket.
And in a pressure environment like the World Cup, where matches will be decided on fine margins, that attribute could be absolutely priceless.
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