Yadav picked 2 wickets in the second ODI against England women.
Indian women cricket team’s spinner Poonam Yadav revealed that she worked on her field placements and on varying her pace, which helped her to get wickets in the second ODI against England Women on June 30 (Wednesday) in Taunton.
She further said getting two wickets (2/63) in the second ODI against England after a long time matters a lot to her and she was happy to contribute to the team, though the spinner admitted that she was a little expensive on Wednesday and could have done better in Taunton.
The 29-year-old, who hadn’t taken wickets since November 2019, on Wednesday, dismissed England captain Heather Knight (10) and wicketkeeper (Amy Jones 28) in the second ODI.
Well, India showed great fight in the second ODI, but the batters yet again hurt the tourists as England beat India Women by five wickets in the second women's ODI to take a 2-0 series-clinching lead in the three-match series with the final ODI slated to be played on July 3 in Worcester.
Yadav said during the post-match virtual press conference: “I have worked on my field placements and just my general approach. Players were playing me off the back foot, what matters is the pace and how the wicket is acting.”
She added, “I worked on varying my pace and I had time between these two series to work that out. I got a wicket after a long time. For any bowler, it matters to get among the wickets and contribute to the team and complete the spell. I was a little expensive today, I could have done better.”
India was all out for 221 with skipper Mithali Raj (59) and Shafali Verma (44) providing valuable contributions for the tourists as England pacer Kate Cross took a five-wicket haul (5/34.)
Poonam said, “We lost wickets but still managed a decent total. We could have restricted them. Our bowlers did well too but we could have restricted them a little more. Our fielding was better this time. We are seeing collapses often, but I think they'll do better going forward.”
The spinner continued, “It was a bad day for the bowlers in the first ODI, but today we fought till the end, and even though we lost, our body language was so better. Hopefully, we'll take that momentum forward and definitely, register wins the coming matches.”
Yadav signed off by opining on the next year’s World Cup in New Zealand, “We're experimenting with bowling plans and field positions for all bowlers in the matches we get now. We tried today too and some of those plans worked for us. This will be very important as we get closer to the World Cup.”
(With PTI Inputs)