There’s a joke in India Women’s dressing room that when the ball is in Poonam Yadav’s hand, one can only see the ball, not her palm. But when the diminutive leggie delivers the white ball, such is her wrist-work that she flummoxes the opposition batsmen as frequently as she struggles to buy shoes for her small-sized feet.
More than learning to bowl under lights with the dew, India’s most successful T20 bowler constantly hunted for size-5 shoes during India’s preparation ahead of the big test Down Under. The chirpy girl, in a chat with
Sportstar during India’s home series against South Africa last year, had stressed that joggers aren't much of a problem since she can wear “5.5 size with three pairs of socks”, but when it comes to spikes - she just doesn’t get anything remotely close to her size in India.
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“Alyssa Healy (Australia’s wicket-keeper-batter) gave me these spikes. When she came during the Women’s IPL (in Jaipur in May), she just walked up to and asked what size do I wear. Since we have the same size, she gave me a pair of spikes.”
As a result, she was looking forward to the T20 World Cup and the preceding tri-series (which she missed due to a shoulder injury just before India’s opener) for more reason than one. “I will ensure I return with not just the trophy but enough pairs of spikes that will last for the next few years,” she had said.
Incidentally, it was Healy’s prized wicket that led to Poonam spelling the doom for Australia during Friday’s T20 World Cup opener. The ambitious girl that Poonam is, there are still many more boxes to tick for her - on and off the field - in Australia.
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