Photo Credit: Brisbane Heat
The WBBL Brisbane Heat will welcome exciting Indian allrounder Pooja Vastrakar to the Weber Women’s Big Bash League for the first time.
Vastrakar, 22, joins New Zealand allrounder Amelia Kerr as the Heat’s international recruits to date, as the build-up to WBBL|08 intensifies.
A right-arm pace bowler who is also a dangerous lower order hitter, Vastrakar is currently recovering from COVID before looking to join the Indian team in the Commonwealth Games Village in Birmingham ahead of the opening rounds of the Women’s T20 competition.
It is the first time that Women’s Cricket has been included at the Games, with Australia and India among the 12 countries that will compete for gold, silver, and bronze medals.
Vastrakar will become the third Indian woman to play for the Heat, following on from Smriti Mandhana and Poonam Yadav.
She caught the eye of the Heat during last summer’s tour by India and the ICC One Day World Cup in New Zealand, where coach Ashley Noffke was impressed by her all-round impact.
“Pooja is an outstanding athlete,’’ he said. “She bowls with sharp pace, can find the boundary with the bat down the order and is an absolute jet in the field.”
“We’re very pleased to welcome her to the WBBL and are excited about the experience we can offer her. She’s certainly a player of the future for India and one that we expect can make a difference for the Heat this summer.”
She was a strong performer in the World Cup in New Zealand at the start of the year, with finishing as her team’s second leading wicket-taker and producing an impressive 67 off 59 balls to counter-attack for her team when it was struggling against Pakistan.
Vastrakar has played 23 ODI games and 27 T20 Internationals, as well as two Tests.
The Heat have now announced 12 of their 15-player squad for WBBL|08.
Tickets to all WBBL Heat matches will be available via pre-sale on August 16 and available to the public from August 18 through Ticketek.com.au.
The Brisbane Heat Fan Day will make its return on Sunday September 4, with the free event providing a lead-in to the Final of the men’s KFC T20 Max competition at Allan Border Field.
WBBL and BBL players will attend the morning event from 11am which will also feature T20 Blast games for kids and giveaways.
The decider of the T20 Max competition will get underway from 1pm. That event is also free.
