“On every occasion she requested for cash for cricket, I’d tease her by way of asking why she was once losing her time in cricket. She used to mention, ‘aap dekhna, India khelungi (Someday, I will be able to play for India),” Pooja Vastrakar’s father Bandhan Ram as soon as advised The Indian Categorical.
On Sunday morning, in Hangzhou China, Pooja, who wasn’t even within the authentic squad for the Video games, shocked Bangladesh with a double strike within the first over of the sport, enroute a four-fer, to propel India ladies into the general of the Asian Video games.
Bandhan Ram had lengthy stopped being shocked by way of the rest his youngest daughter did. No longer her performances, now not her unbinding love for the sport, and or for the topic, her bills.
He wasn’t too satisfied when Pooja purchased him a Rs 15 lakh automotive prior to going for the remaining T20 Global Cup. He referred to as it a “waste of cash”. In February, after his 23-year-old daughter was once picked by way of Mumbai Indians for a staggering price ticket of Rs 1.9 crore within the inaugural Girls’s Premier League (WPL) public sale, the 72-year-old mentioned he sought after his daughter to place all of the public sale cash right into a “mounted deposit” slightly than splurge it.’
“Bahut paise waste karti hai. Mai chahta hun ki ye saare paise ka FD kar le (She wastes some huge cash. I need her to open a hard and fast deposit account with all of the cash),” Bandhan Ram had advised this newspaper.
A retired BSNL worker, Bandhan Ram by no means idea that his daughter will pass directly to play for India some day, and that her interest for cricket would fetch her this amount of cash.
“For the reason that age of 4, she has been into cricket. I by no means idea that she would pass directly to play for India at some point. However she at all times knew it,” recalled Bandhan Ram.
Pooja is the youngest amongst seven siblings (5 daughters and two sons), and has at all times been the favorite of her father.
Pooja was once offered to game by way of her elder sister Usha, who was once into athletics and narrated her sister’s tryst with cricket.
“Until 8 or 9, she used to play cricket within the gully with the men. Then Ashutosh sir (Srivastava) watched her enjoying on a floor, got here to our house and advised my father to let her sign up for his academy. A yr later, when my mom gave up the ghost, she stopped going to the academy. I were given to learn about it and actually dragged her to the academy. From there onwards, she by no means neglected a unmarried observe consultation. I’m glad that she is pursuing her interest. We’re very happy with her achievements,” mentioned Usha.
Pooja’s trainer Ashutosh Srivastava, who lives in Shahdol, a small the city in Madhya Pradesh’s Rewa district, recalled how he mistook her for a boy after seeing her hitting sixes off bowlers double her measurement.
“I noticed her enjoying on the municipal floor in Shahdol. I noticed a child smacking sixes in tennis ball cricket. I requested some of the children, who is that this boy, the answer was once, ‘sir ye toh ladki hai.’ I used to be amazed by way of her power-hitting,” mentioned Ashutosh.
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After you have her into his academy, Srivastava by no means let her educate with the women and made Pooja play with the men.
She was once approach too just right for the women of her age. I put her within the boy’s U-14 staff and in a few weeks, she became out the most efficient a few of the boys of her age team as smartly,” he mentioned.
“I rarely did the rest for her. To start with, it was once Ashutosh sir, who helped her out. Then when she was once picked for the Madhya Pradesh Underneath-19 staff, she began making money and not requested the rest from me. She even helped with cash all through her sister’s marriage,” mentioned Pooja’s father. Now she helps India win a medal on the Asian Video games.