Poonam Yadav is an Indian cricketer who plays for the India women's national cricket team. A right-arm leg break bowler, she is known for her flighted deliveries and ability to extract turn, and has been a key spinner for India in limited-overs cricket, particularly in Twenty20 Internationals.
Key facts
| Full name | Poonam Yadav |
|---|---|
| Born | 24 August 1991, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India |
| Role | Bowler |
| Batting | Right-handed |
| Bowling | Right-arm leg break |
| National side | India |
| ODI debut | 2013, vs Bangladesh |
| T20I debut | 2013, vs Bangladesh |
| Domestic team | Railways; Uttar Pradesh (earlier) |
| Honours | Arjuna Award (2019) |
Background
Poonam Yadav was born in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, on 24 August 1991. She took up cricket at a young age and developed her game on the maidans of Agra before moving up through the Uttar Pradesh state set-up. She later joined the Indian Railways team, which has long been a leading employer and patron of women cricketers in India.
Domestic career
Poonam represented Uttar Pradesh in the early part of her domestic career and subsequently turned out for Railways in the senior women's domestic competitions organised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Railways have been among the most successful sides in the women's domestic circuit, and she has been a regular member of their bowling attack.
In franchise cricket, she has appeared in the Women's T20 Challenge and, since its inception, in the Women's Premier League (WPL).
International career
Poonam Yadav made her international debut for India in 2013 against Bangladesh in both the One Day International and Twenty20 International formats. Over the following years she became a fixture in India's white-ball sides, taking the new ball or operating in the middle overs depending on conditions.
2017 Women's Cricket World Cup
She was part of the India squad that reached the final of the 2017 ICC Women's Cricket World Cup in England, where India lost to the host nation at Lord's. The campaign helped raise the profile of women's cricket in India considerably.
2020 ICC Women's T20 World Cup
Poonam was one of the standout performers in the 2020 ICC Women's T20 World Cup held in Australia. In the opening match against the host nation at Sydney, she returned figures of 4 for 19, a key performance that set the tone for India's run to the final, played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on International Women's Day, 8 March 2020. Her wicket-taking ability with the leg break was central to India's bowling plans through the tournament.
Style of play
Poonam is a slow leg-spinner who relies on flight, dip and variations in pace rather than sharp turn. She frequently uses a slower, looped trajectory to draw batters forward, and has been particularly effective in the middle overs of T20 cricket where she contains scoring while picking up wickets.
Awards and recognition
- Arjuna Award (2019) — conferred by the Government of India for outstanding performance in cricket.
- Recognised by the BCCI in its annual women's cricket awards for performances in international cricket.
Significance
Poonam Yadav is regarded as one of the most successful Indian women leg-spinners of her generation. Alongside contemporaries such as Jhulan Goswami, Mithali Raj, Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana, she has been part of the cohort that took Indian women's cricket from limited visibility to mainstream attention, particularly through the 2017 World Cup final and the 2020 T20 World Cup final.
Related topics
- India women's national cricket team
- 2017 Women's Cricket World Cup
- 2020 ICC Women's T20 World Cup
- Women's Premier League (cricket)
- Railways women's cricket team
- Arjuna Award
- Board of Control for Cricket in India
References
- Board of Control for Cricket in India — player profile.
- International Cricket Council — player records and tournament archives.
- Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India — National Sports Awards.