The Pooja Vastrakar story: From playing with boys and dealing with a tragedy that threatened to destroy her to helping India beat Pakistan in the Women's World Cup

Pooja Vastrakar has played 2 Tests, 14 ODIs and 24 T20Is for the Indian women's cricket team since her international debut in 2018. On Sunday, though, in what was her 14th ODI in the blue jersey of the Indian team, Vastrakar played a knock which will go down as her best performance with the bat so far and that too at a time when the team desperately needed someone to stand tall and deliver in a high pressure World Cup game. In the high-octane clash against Pakistan, in what was India's opening match in the ongoing ICC Women's World Cup in New Zealand, Vastrakar was at her best with the bat. Coming in to bat at number 8, Vastrakar, who hails from Bilaspur in Madhya, Pradesh belted 67 off 59 deliveries and stitched a 122-run partnership with Sneh Rana (53 not out off 48 balls) to take India out of a tough situation. She walked in to bat with India at 114-6, at the fall of captain Mitahli Raj's wicket. Her valiant knock was studded with eight boundaries. She was adjudged the Player of the Match for what is now her highest career score across all formats.

Pooja Vastrakar (Image credit: ICC)Opting to bat first, India were under immense pressure after swashbuckling opener Shafali Verma fell for a duck. Mandhana (52 off 75) and Deepti Sharma (40), however, steadied the ship but Pakistan made a strong comeback to remove Deepti and Mandhana and then dismissed Harmanpreet (5) and skipper Mithali Raj (9) cheaply too. Vastrakar and Rana then put together a Women's World Cup record seventh-wicket stand of 122 and helped India post a respectable 244 for 7 at Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui.

Pooja Vastrakar (ANI Photo)India then skittled Pakistan for 137 in 43 overs to keep their perfect World Cup record against the arch-rivals intact.