How do you break a slowing-moving partnership that is looking increasingly threatening with every passing delivery? Well, you take your chances when they come. It may come in the form of a sharp catch or magic ball that does something off the pitch or a skilful runout that cuts the momentum.
If you have someone like Pooja Vastrakar at your disposal, you trust her to do her thing because history has shown that Vastrakar can change the course of the game in seconds. That is exactly what happened when she completed a run out of Tammy Beaumont in the first innings of the one-off Test match against England at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai.
Vastrakar's childhood coach, Aril Anthony, is not even surprised that she has pulled off those many crucial runouts for India over the years. He even remembers a story from when Vastrakar was an 11-year-old talented kid from Rewa, Madhya Pradesh. "When she started with us at age 11, we took a team from Rewa to Bhopal. She was one of the youngest players in our team. The opposition team from Bhopal had more experienced players," Anthony recalls.
"They watched her bowl and field and were extremely impressed. Many players from that team asked me if they could have Pooja playing for Bhopal. I said we have just started building our team. How can this happen? (laughs) Even the opposition players were in awe of her talent at that early stage tells you a lot about her talent. And they also said she will go very far in her career. I said I could not say right now how far she would go because this is the beginning but if by God's grace, she plays for the state team, then we will see what happens," he added.
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During her early days, Vastrakar was given a clear path by her coach. At the age where every kid with the bat wants to play for India, Anthony had a clear plan for her – Concentrate on what's in front of you; do not daydream about playing for India. "I have always said that you have to go through steps. It cannot happen that you go from first and second class to 12th class directly. You have to follow the procedure. You have to climb that ladder steadily. Whatever the first level of your challenge is, whether it's district level or division level, you have to prove yourself at that stage. Once you do that, the doors will open for you. That's my message to the students. You have to think about how you are going to perform at every level and she has done that," the proud mentor said.
That discipline and hard work of all these years paid off when the 19-year-old made her debut for India in 2018. Even in her first-ever international innings at home in Vadodara, batting at nine, she showed her class with the bat and smashed 51 to take India to a respectable total against the likes of Ellyse Perry and Jess Jonassen.
Four years later, in the ODI World Cup fixture against Pakistan, she stood up for her side with a partnership of 122 with Sneh Rana. Injury setbacks kept her in and out of the playing XIs for the longest time, but when the time came to make the most of the home conditions, newly appointed head coach Amol Muzumdar and captain Harmanpreet Kaur made sure Vastrakar was part of the playing XI.
While she remained unbeaten with the bat, her feisty spell with the ball dismissed England captain Heather Knight. In the second innings, Vastrakar was on fire with the ball. Her line and length were persistent throughout her spell. Sophia Dunkley, who had survived a spell by Renuka Singh Thakur, was tempted by Vastrakar to cut only to be caught by Harleen Deol at gully.
Then came Natalie Sciver-Brunt, probably one of the players who could have threatened the Indian bowling attack. With the perfect length ball outside off, Vastrakar threaded the ball back in through the gap between bat and pad to dislodge the England vice-captain's stumps on her very first ball. All of a sudden, India could smell a victory. And England's long-ish tail was exposed to face the wrath of Vastrakar, who finished with 3/23 in four overs as India registered a record 347-run victory.
Captain Harmanpreet was all praise for the all-rounder after the match. "The more long-format cricket you play, the more your skills improve. So, we wanted to back her (Vastrakar), especially for this Test. Because her confidence will increase as she bowls more," she said after India's 347-run win against England on Saturday.
"You don’t get much opportunity to develop your skills when you are playing short formats because you have to be accurate and the margin of error is very small. But in Test cricket, you can set your fields and try certain things. You start trusting your skills gradually. We saw throughout the two innings that her confidence was increasing and she gradually started picking wickets also. It’s about that game time you get that allows you to improve your skills and there cannot be a bigger opportunity than a Test match for a player to challenge themselves
"Our combinations are usually a mix of spin and pace. If you bring both pacers together, it becomes easier for the batters when spin is introduced from both ends together later on. I think every pacer wants to bowl with the new ball as you get movement and help with the new ball. As per the team plan, we have to give Renuka the opportunity with the new ball and Pooja understands that. She is ready to bowl the first change. Today the first 40 minutes were very important, but still, she was okay to bowl later on. Everything works according to the team plan. We trust her and that’s why she is in the team,” Harmanpreet added.
While not many from Madhya Pradesh have represented India at the international level, Vastrakar came with all the confidence in her abilities and skills. Bowling in home conditions could add pressure on anyone, however, that then 11-year-old kid who worked her way up and gave enough time and space to every level in her journey, was up for it as she helped India win a Test match on home soil after nine years.
