WBBL: Brisbane Heat sign Indian leg-spinner Poonam Yadav
Women's Big Bash League franchise Brisbane Heat have signed Indian leg-spinner Poonam Yadav for the upcoming season. Poonam becomes the eighth Indian player who will feature at the WBBL this season. By signing her, Brisbane Heat have completed their third overseas signing. Reportedly, Yadav will join the Heat squad in Hobart next week. Here are further details.
Yadav would want to fill the void as all-rounder Amelia Kerr is unavailable for Heat. "We know there is a lot of upside to Poonam coming on board. When we lost Amelia, we were confident we could back our group to give a good account of themselves regardless. But adding Poonam's skill and her competitiveness is a huge result," head coach Ashley Noffke said.
Yadav is India's leading wicket-taker in Women's T20Is. She has taken 98 wickets from 71 matches at an incredible average of 14.90. The 30-year-old is set to become the first Indian woman with 100 T20I wickets. Yadav impressed with her exploits in the 2020 Women's T20 World Cup. She shone in the opening game against Australia, having taken four wickets.
This will be Yadav's first stint in the WBBL. She has become the second Indian player to join Brisbane Heat after Smriti Mandhana in 2016. Notably, the former will fill the third international spot for them for the upcoming season.
Yadav holds the record for taking four-wicket hauls in two consecutive T20Is. She took 4/9 and 4/26 against Bangladesh Women and SL Women respectively in 2018. Notably, Yadav is the only Indian woman to do so. She owns the join-most T20I wickets stumped (18). Yadav has taken the third-most T20I scalps in a calendar year (35 in 2018).
A total of eight Indian players have been signed for the impending WBBL season. They are Poonam Yadav (Brisbane Heat), Richa Ghosh (Hobart Hurricanes), Harmanpreet Kaur and Jemimah Rodrigues (Melbourne Renegades), Shafali Verma and Radha Yadav (Sydney Sixers), Smriti Mandhana and Deepti Sharma (Sydney Thunder).
