Radha Yadav Biography :
Age – 19 years
Father’s Name – Om Prakash Yadav
Father’s Occupation – Shop owner
Height – NA
Weight – NA
School – Anandibai Damodar Kale Vidyalaya; Our Lady of Remedy (Borivli)
Net Worth – Earns 30 lakhs per year
Early Life
In most of the cases, we see young Indian girls coming into cricket after getting inspired by the likes of Mithali Raj, Harmanpreet Kaur and Jhulan Goswami. But Radha Yadav did not know any of them. In fact, she had no idea that a thing called women’s cricket existed, and even her own country had produced many stars.
“I never knew that women played at the international level and I had never heard of Mithali Raj or Jhulan Goswami when I started playing the game,” she honestly confessed in an interview with Mid-Day.
However, she started playing cricket from a very young age. Not just cricket but any sort of a sport, ranging from kabaddi, kho-kho and badminton. Most of this was just to keep her from the headache that studies gave her. But there was a bigger, much more serious headache looming large.
Yadav is the daugher of Om Prakash Yadav, who owns a very small makeshift shop in front of his 225 square feet house in Kandivli (West). Radha herself used to often sit at the shop, which was complete in many ways, but had a small problem. The shop was not authorized, which subsequently meant that there was always a threat of demolotion by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
Her father has always kept her children away from his own problems, but Radha knows what he goes through everyday. “I check with my father every day whether he faced any problem from the BMC. His response is always positive.
He ensures my cricket stays unaffected by all these problems, but I know he is under a lot of stress. He wakes up at 4 am to stock the shop and every night he takes the items back home,” she once told an interview.
Domestic Career
Yadav was playing her big shots in the Shiv Seva ground in Borivli, where she grabbed the attention of Praful Naik. He asked his father on whether he would like to see her daughter as a cricketer. Om Prakash Yadav never had any problem with Radha’s love for cricket, but financial constraints was a problem.
Radha’s sister Soni was also a brilliant cricket, but domestic problems stood in her way of becoming a cricketer. For someone who feeds a family of nine by running a small makeshift shop, Radha’s father could not bear the expenses needed to play cricket. But his joy knew no bounds when he heard that Naik would take care of all the expenses.
“I was hitting all bowlers. Sir was watching me and he was impressed. He asked someone, who turned out to be my father, about me. He then asked my father whether I would play hard-ball cricket. He willingly agreed. Initially, I would use other players’ kit. I got my own only when my coach was convinced that I could play hard-ball cricket,” Radha told Mid-Day.
In just two years’ times, Radha found herself in the Mumbai team. But she soon shifted base to Baroda. She was brilliant for the Baroda Under -19 side. In just 8 games, she took 35 wickets and scored 138 runs. That earned her a promotion to the Under-23 side, and finally the senior side.
International Career
Yadav got her first cap in a T20I match against South Africa at Potchefstroom on February 13, 2018. In that match, she bowled 3 overs and conceded 21 runs. She couldn’t pick up any wicket. She has represented India in 31 more T20Is ever since, but has not earned an ODI match yet.
Speaking on her international debut, she told Mid-Day “I always hoped to achieve something in cricket. I always backed myself. My only wish was to wear the India jersey and sing the national anthem. So, when all this was happening, I couldn’t control my tears.”
Stats
In 32 T20Is she has played thus far, Yadav has picked up 43 wickets. She has an economy rate of just over 6 runs per over, and an average of well under 20. She has not got many chances with the bat, and has only contributed 33 runs for her side. Yadav doesn’t have any 4-wicket haul to boast of, but she has picked up 3-wicket hauls.
