If there is one player that India must be dearly missing in this Women’s T20 World Cup 2026, it has to be fast-bowling all-rounder Pooja Vastrakar. She is one of those, who can actually bat as good as they can bowl. Yes, she has been out since the 2024 edition, and India won the 50-over World Cup in her absence, but nobody can discount on her importance in the side.
Shoulder surgery keeps Pooja Vastrakar out of Indian team
For the unversed, who don’t really know, as to why she isn’t in the team — Pooja Vastrakar underwent a shoulder surgery, that took her longer-than-expected time to recover. Finally, on the sidelines of the Madhya Pradesh Women’s T20 League, she opened up her struggles with injuries, and how chats with best pacer in the world, Jasprit Bumrah helped her.
“We had planned the surgery in a way that I would have had eight months to recover, but that didn’t happen because even after eight months, I hadn’t got my range back,” Vastrakar told ESPNcricinfo. “After being in these situations so many times, it doesn’t bother you anymore. You know how to deal with it.“
Help came from the best in business
But then, the long wait of the injury, recovery from surgery can take a huge toll on the player mentally. And that is when colleagues play a huge part. She revealed, how being at the BCCI CoE meant, help was always available.
“When you are at a place like the CoE, there are world-class bowlers like Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah, highly qualified doctors, physiotherapists and trainers. When you converse with them, you learn a lot and mature. They tell us that bowling isn’t even made for the human body. You transfer three or four times your body weight onto your left leg.
“I had a lot of conversations with Boom bhai [Bumrah] during that period. He explained, ‘If I look at my career, many similar things happened to me too. For a long time I have also been out, doing rehab for six months. Then I had surgery, so a year-and-a-half went into all this.’ He basically just said these things will keep happening; all you can do is focus on your process and whatever is in your control.
“It’s true that during such phases, we either dwell on the past or worry about the future. We forget to enjoy the present. And the present is what’s in our hands, the process is in our hands. And that very process becomes a huge part of success.”
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