Pooja Vastrakar Height, Age, Boyfriend, Family, Records, Biography & More 2024

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Age: 23 Years

Profession: Cricketer

DOB: 25/09/1999

Some Lesser Known Facts About Pooja Vastrakar

Pooja Vastrakar is an Indian cricketer, who’s a bowling all-rounder within the nationwide girls’s cricket crew.

Reportedly, Pooja was enticed by a bunch of boys from her locality in Shahdol to play cricket. In an interview, she stated,

I used to be a very good gully cricketer, so I urged my sister to assist me get into an academy. She went across the city to search out one, however got here again to say that none of them skilled women. So I left fascinated by it.”

She was good at gully cricket however was not often given the chance to bat. In an interview, she stated,

Ek do overs hello milte hain, aur predominant woh ek do overs mein hello kuch na kuch kamaal kar deti thi (I’d get just one or two overs however I’d do one thing superb in them),”

She together with the kids of her locality determined to make use of the bottom amenities of one of many cricket academies close by, which remained unused within the morning, to play cricket with out worrying about breaking the home windows or shedding balls. This is when Pooja obtained launched to her coach, Ashutosh Shrivastava.

In an interview, Vastrakar acknowledged,

We used to play 4-over video games. As luck would have it, on one of many days when it was my flip to bat, I hit just a few sixes, one man noticed me. He got here and requested me if I used to be to hitch the academy and took me to Ashutosh Shrivastav, who has been my coach since then.”

Photo of Pooja Vastrakar enjoying cricket with boys in her childhood

Shrivastav took notice of her pure expertise and began coaching her at his academy, Gulmohar Cricket Academy, which was an all-boys facility.

Since Vastrakar was the one woman who took coaching at Shrivastav’s academy, all her coaching befell with the boys.

Unfortunately, Vastrakar’s mom died simply after Pooja joined the academy. She was solely 10 years previous and her mom’s demise devastated her to such an extent that she stopped going to her cricket coaching periods on the academy.

Later, when her coach realised her absence for a protracted period, he approached Pooja’s family to test on her. Upon listening to the information about Pooja’s mom, he requested Pooja’s sisters to persuade her to hitch again the academy, which she obliged to.

Shahdol was but to be made right into a division so initially, Pooja performed for the neighbouring Rewa division in Madhya Pradesh and Central Zone.

By the time she was 14, she was chosen for Madhya Pradesh’s senior cricket crew.

She made her debut in main home cricket in a Twenty20 match in opposition to Odisha on 9 March 2013.

When Vastrakar began her cricket coaching, she was inclined in direction of batting; nonetheless, she regularly transitioned into changing into a bowling allrounder. In an interview, she revealed,

When I obtained into the MP crew, they requested the batsmen to queue up one facet and bowlers on the opposite. Obviously, I went and stood among the many batsmen. At that point, I injured my left ring finger after jamming it into the door hinge, so I had not been capable of bat for a few days. The coach there requested if I can bowl as nicely, which is after I rolled my arm over for the primary time. Bas bangayi bowling allrounder (That’s how I turned a bowling allrounder).”

Pooja Vastrakar bowling

At the age of 15, she turned part of the India Green Women Squad.

In 2016, Pooja suffered a decrease again harm due to extended neglect on her half, which made her out of competition for a spot within the squad for India’s tour of Australia.

Later, she sprained her ankle proper earlier than the house sequence in opposition to Sri Lanka, which jeopardised her probabilities for a nationwide call-up.

She obtained an enormous blow when her knee obtained twisted resulting in an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear whereas she was fielding throughout a senior girls’s home one-dayer between Madhya Pradesh and Punjab. She needed to bear knee surgical procedure which additional shelved her nationwide call-up.

Pooja Vastrakar publish her knee surgical procedure

To address the distasteful scenario of her harm, she watched motivational movies of the speaker, Sandeep Maheshwari, and Olympians on YouTube and Facebook. Pooja’s coach, Ashutosh Shrivastava, additionally testified that Pooja had a powerful religion in herself and her willpower to beat all of the obstacles and make a profession within the nationwide cricket crew. In an interview, he stated,

Pooja was assured she’d get via all of it. When she returned house, after getting some 15-20 days of relaxation and her rehab, her zeal to make it to the Indian facet solely obtained stronger.”

Pooja Vastrakar’s knee harm

Post restoration, Vastrakar seen a change in her tempo from 105 kmph to 110 kmph or extra.

In October 2018, she was named in India’s squad for the 2018 ICC Women’s World Twenty20 event within the West Indies however was dominated out resulting from an harm which she suffered in a warmup match.

The 2018 Challenger Trophy turned an instrumental stepping stone in her profession because it turned the premise of her choice within the squad for the South Africa tour and likewise for her to be handed a central contract primarily based on solely six worldwide appearances.

In January 2020, she was named in India’s squad for the 2020 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in Australia.

Following the 2020 T20 World Cup in Australia, she was named in India’s Test squad for his or her one-off match in opposition to the England girls’s cricket crew in May 2021.

In January 2022, she was named in India’s crew for the 2022 Women’s Cricket World Cup in New Zealand.

She made headlines when she grasped 4 wickets in IND Women vs NZ Women at Hamilton in ICC Women’s World Cup on March 10, 2022. To add to her achievement, she dismissed New Zealand’s Suzie Bates together with her one-handed throw.

Later within the event, she hit an enormous 81-metre six.

8️⃣1️⃣m

“High and handsome” – Pooja Vastrakar hits the largest six of the ICC Women’s World Cup 2022 up to now.#INDvAUS #CWC22

— The Bridge (@the_bridge_in) March 19, 2022

She is usually advised by her teammates that she and Hardik Pandya have the same manner of choosing up the ball and launching it.

In an interview, she revealed the explanation why Mithali Raj calls her Babloo. She stated,

Hardik Pandya had streaked his hair blue lately, so Mithu di (Mithali Raj) gave him the nickname ‘Bablue/Babloo’. And, then, she began calling me the identical kyunki woh mujhe chhota Hardik Pandya bulaatey hain (as a result of they name me junior Hardik Pandya).”

Pooja Vastrakar with Mithali Raj

The India fielding coach, Biju George, calls Pooja Babulal. He defined his rationale behind this in an interview and stated,

Have you seen these movies of canines barking the lions away? That’s Babulal. Pooja jogs my memory of a man who was all pores and skin and bones, however, on the identical time, all struggle.”

According to media studies, Pooja used to play cricket with a laundry stick or wood strap throughout her childhood days, when she had restricted assets and no entry to a bat.

Recalling an incident from the NCA under-19 camp that she attended in 2015, Pooja revealed in an interview,

When I went to the NCA for an Under-19 camp in 2015, the wicket on the finish was fairly inexperienced. I had learn two months earlier that [Suresh] Raina had been struggling in opposition to the bouncer, and should have been on the NCA to work on that. I puzzled if it was the identical wicket the place he had honed his recreation in opposition to the bouncer. The ball was rising properly, so I believed, ‘All right, let me try out a bouncer here’. Then even on flat wickets I began bowling it. In the home video games, I began bowling one virtually each over, first or second ball.”

Pooja Vastrakar with Suresh Raina

Vastrakar considers cricketer, Jhulan Goswami her position mannequin. In an interview, she acknowledged,

But as a feminine cricketer, Jhulu di (Jhulan Goswami) has been a task mannequin. From the start I’ve seen her, have examine her; she is such a constant bowler. She backs me quite a bit and tells me, ‘This is how it’s essential to use the non-bowling arm. If you strive, you may bump up your pace to 120-125kmph. Unko dekhke chalna hai aur unke jaisa banna hai (I need to comply with her path and change into like her).”

In May 2022, Pooja alongside together with her colleagues from the cricket crew appeared as visitors on Kapil Sharma‘s discuss present, The Kapil Sharma Show, which airs on Sony TV.

Pooja Vastrakar (first from left) and her colleagues at The Kapil Sharma Show

Reportedly, Pooja contributed a big sum of cash from her earnings to her sister’s marriage ceremony and likewise helps her father to assist her family financially.

In an interview, Pooja revealed that she used to earn Rs.1200 per home match for the U19 recreation. She added that she collected roughly Rs.15000 to buy an English Willow bat price Rs.4500 and a pair of studs price Rs.1200 since she had no sponsorships firstly of her profession. She by no means requested her father to purchase her cricket tools as a result of she didn’t need to burden him with all of the bills.

Having aced the bowling a part of the sport, Pooja confirmed her batting expertise as nicely in numerous matches. In an interview, she expressed that she aspires to be an allrounder. She stated,

I need to be generally known as an allrounder who excels in all three departments, in each sense of the time period. When folks discuss of me as an allrounder, I’d like them to say, “Pooja ko sab kuch aata hai, aur acchi tarah se aata hai (Pooja can do everything, and she’s good at everything).”