India vs England: Poonam Yadav credits pace variation for getting back among wickets

Taunton: Senior India spinner Poonam Yadav, who endured a dry spell in the previous series against South Africa, says she has learnt to vary her pace that helped her snare two wickets in the second ODI against England. England beat India by five wickets in the second women’s ODI to take a 2-0 series-clinching lead here on Wednesday. Yadav was the pick of the bowlers for the visitors as she registered the figures of 2/63. The wickets of captain Heather Knight and wicketkeeper Amy Jones were the 29-year-old’s first since November 2019. In the home series against South Africa earlier this year she had failed to strike even once in four matches. “I have worked on my field placements and just my general approach. Players were playing me off the back foot, what matters is the pace and how the wicket is acting,” Yadav, said during the post-match virtual press conference. “I worked on varying my pace and I had time between these two series to work that out. “I got a wicket after a long time. For any bowler, it matters to get among the wickets and contribute to the team and complete the spell. I was a little expensive today, I could have done better,” she added. Trailing the series 0-1, India were all out for 221 as England pacer Kate Cross took a five-wicket haul (5/34.) Skipper Mithali Raj (59) and Shafali Verma (44) provided valuable contributions for the tourists. In reply, Sophia Dunkley (73 not out) and Katherine Brunt (33 not out) shared 92 runs for the unbroken sixth wicket to chase down the target. India put up a much improved show in the second ODI compared to the series opener earlier this week, but suffered a batting collapse once again. “We lost wickets but still managed a decent total. We could have restricted them. Our bowlers did well too but we could have restricted them a little more. Our fielding was better this time. “We are seeing collapses often, but I think they’ll do better going forward,” Yadav said. Yadav felt that despite the loss, the Indian team’s body language had improved compared to the previous outing. “It was a bad day for the bowlers in the first ODI, but today we fought till the end and even though we lost, our body language was so better. Hopefully, we’ll take that momentum forward and definitely register wins the coming matches,” she said. With the ODI World Cup in New Zealand scheduled to be played next year, Yadav said, We’re experimenting with bowling plans and field positions for all bowlers in the matches we get now. We tried today too and some of those plans worked for us. This will be very important as we get closer to the World Cup.”