‘This is a dream start for India’ said the commentator when Pooja Vastrakar cleaned up Ellyse Perry in the first session of Day 1 of the one-off Test between India and Australia at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai.
India are playing their second Test match in eight days. Harmanpreet Kaur and Co. faced England in a one-off Test a week before this Test where the host won comfortably with a margin of 347 runs.
Although it was a team effort as said by skipper Harmanpreet, one player did stand out in the Test in Navi Mumbai – Pooja Vastrakar as she took four crucial wickets in that Test. She got Sophia Dunkley, Heather Knight (twice) and Nat Sciver Brunt.
And now Pooja has stepped up on Day 1 of the Wankhede Test too. In the first innings, Pooja took four crucial wickets including an unplayable inswinger to Perry. On a pitch that surprisingly had a lot of grass, Pooja made life hell for the Australian batters.
Pooja is often called the next Jhulan Goswami. While those shoes are really huge to fill, it won’t be wrong to say that Pooja has at least worn those socks. With a good run-up, a steady head, fast arm action and good release, Pooja makes it look like she will take a wicket on every ball. She has taken 9 wickets in 3 Test matches so far.
Indian pitches are a heavenly buffet for the spinners but Pooja quietly sneaks in and fills her plate with quality wickets. In a team where spinners weave a web-like spider, Pooja will come in fast and sting you like a bee.
‘EXTREMELY TALENTED CRICKETER’
Australian batter Tahlia McGrath praised Pooja in the press conference after stumps.
‘Vastrakar bowled really well,’ McGrath told the media after the stumps on Day 1.
‘The ball she got Pez (Perry) with was an absolute peach. When I was walking out to bat, she was getting sideways moving off the scene both ways. She just bowls a relentless line that keeps you on your toes and is perfect for Test match cricket. She’s an extremely talented cricketer and was disciplined with her skills today,” added McGrath.
Talking about the wicket, Pooja said that this wicket is not as friendly as the DY Patil pitch was in the game against England a few days back.
THE ‘COOL’EY EFFECT
“During practice we realised that this is not an easy wicket,” Pooja told the media after the stumps on Day 1.
“We knew we’ll have to work extra hard on this wicket and we’ll have to hit the deck more. Even our bowling coach told us pacers to bowl wicket-to-wicket and hit the deck more. He also told us to set up a batter and bowl a few inswingers. I tried the same to Perry and she got out,” the Indian pacer added.
Pooja heaped praise on the Indian women’s bowling coach Troy Cooley.
“Him (Troy) being our bowling coach has helped us a lot. He is a very positive guy. Even if we bowl badly in a session, he never talks much about that. He picks what we did right in those sessions and always backs us,” said Pooja.
‘PLANNED WELL IN ADVANCE’
The right-hand seamer has bowled a lot with the red ball in her domestic career. But it has been a long time since India played a Test. Pooja talked about the challenges of changing from a white ball to red ball suddenly.
‘It’s not that easy. There are some difficulties as there is a lot of movement with the red-ball and it becomes tough to control it. But even when we were playing domestic T20 cricket, our bowling coach and trainers managed our workload well,” said Pooja.
“We were not bowling only four overs during that phase. The coaches used to tell us to bowl 24 overs in a week and then 32 overs the following week. We had to count the deliveries and send them the data. Our planning with the red ball had started well in advance. So when we played practice matches in Bangalore, it was not difficult because we had enough practice,” she added.
India will be relying on Pooja to show her magic in the second innings as well and lead India to their first Test victory against Australia.
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