Poonam Yadav Addresses Challenges For Players To Instantly Perform After An Extended Break Due To COVID-19

Indian women’s cricketer Poonam Yadav has opened up on their team’s cancellation of the tour of England. The BCCI discarded India’s limited-overs tour of England, which would have been the ideal preparation for the next year’s Women’s World Cup. Unsurprisingly, the COVID-19 pandemic was responsible for its cancellation and Poonam Yadav would have been a part of it.

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While international cricket resumed earlier in July amongst men’s teams, most of the events and tours either seem cancelled or postponed. The Women’s World Cup held in March was the final major ICC event before the COVID-19 crisis exploded around the world.

Poonam Yadav was part of India’s squad that made it to the finals of the tournament where they lost to Australia. While other cricketing nations have gradually begun getting back to normal, the timeline for the same remains uncertain in India.

Spinner Poonam Yadav admitted that it is going to be an uphill task to perform instantly for all the players. Nevertheless, they are keeping themselves fit whenever called up to resume training and that they should get back to full fitness in 20-25 days.

“If you turn up at the ground after four-five months, it will be very difficult to perform instantly for all players. But we are keeping ourselves fit and when we are allowed to resume group training, we should be back to full fitness in 20-25 days,” Yadav stated as quoted by Hindustan Times.

Poonam further said that while she has been bowling and practising around her residence, it becomes an entirely different ball game in a competitive environment. There exists no clarity on their next series, having played their last fixture in March.

“It is a massive challenge. I have been bowling here but it is totally different in a competitive environment. We last played in March and there is still no clarity over our next series,” she added.

I plan to start working on a few variations: Poonam Yadav

The 28-year-old further stated that if the World Cup takes as per scheduled, she would like to brush on a few variations.

The leggie mainly mentioned working on top-spin and flipper while indicating that the latter would take time to be an expert in.

“If the Word Cup happens as scheduled, there is hardly anytime left. I plan to start working on a few variations, like working on a flipper and top-spin. Flipper is much tougher and it will take me at least three-four months to perfect the ball,” the Agra-born claimed, who has featured in 1 Test, 46 ODIs, and 67 T20Is so far.

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