ICC Women’s T20 World Cup: Crafty Indian leg-spinner Radha Yadav spun a web around the Sri Lankan batting lineup claiming 4 wickets for only 23 runs in the final league game of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup for Women in Australia on Saturday. As a result, Sri Lanka was bundled out for 113/9 and India registered a 7-wicket win — topping their group by virtue of this victory. This devastating spell brought to fore the story of this Mumbai vegetable seller’s daughter whose parents could once barely afford to have her play cricket, reported the Indian Express.
Radha’s talent was spotted by Praful Naik, a part-time coach and Hotel Centaur employee, who had learned the nuances of coaching from legendary cricket coach Ramakant Acherkar — the man who discovered Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli, among others. When she was just 11-years-old, Radha was spotted by Naik playing tennis ball cricket in suburban Kandivali and he was immediately impressed by her passion for cricket and her skills with both the ball and the bat, IE report said. Naik approached Radha’s father whose family of five lived in a very small house. Initially, Naik found it tough to persuade her father to let her pursue cricket seriously, and only when Naik told him that her talent could even land her a job in the Railways one day, did her father relent.
One of the most striking features of her formative days, Naik says, is that Radha was initially a pace bowler who loved to bowl fast. It was Naik who asked her to shorten her run-up and switch from pace to spin — a minor twist in the tale that has made her the toast of Indian cricket fans today.
When Naik retired and moved from Mumbai to Baroda, Gujarat, Radha’s father entrusted him to take his daughter along for the sake of her cricketing career. Radha Yadav has since lead Baroda under-19 and senior team, which eventually got her a place in the Indian side. As Radha’s career took off under Naik, she was given a central contract and her family’s fortunes changed. Her father no longer sells vegetables. He now owns a shop named after her — Radha General Store, the report says.
