Pooja Vastrakar Biography: Stats, Career, WPL & Net Worth 2026

Her father wakes before sunrise in Shahdol, Madhya Pradesh, to get to work as a day labourer. That is where this story begins — not on a cricket field, but in the quiet discipline of a family that knows what hard work looks like, what sacrifice looks like, and what love for your children looks like when it comes without privilege or comfort. Pooja Vastrakar carries all of that with her every time she picks up the ball or walks to the crease for India Women. She does not play for herself alone. She has never played for herself alone.

That weight of family sacrifice — and the grace with which she has transformed it into fuel rather than burden — makes Pooja Vastrakar one of the most genuinely moving stories in Indian women's cricket. The WPL auction, the national jersey, the international wickets: they mean something different when you know where they came from.

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Early Life and Family Background

Pooja Vastrakar was born on 12 February 1999 in Shahdol, Madhya Pradesh — a district in eastern MP not known as a cricketing hub. The family had modest means; her father worked as a daily wage labourer to support the household. Cricket for a girl from this background in a small Madhya Pradesh town was not an obvious path. It was not a path many people around her understood or encouraged.

But Pooja had ability that local coaches noticed early, and she pursued the game with a determination that was, given the circumstances, remarkable. Her family supported her even when the financial cost of travel, equipment, and entry fees was difficult. They understood that she had something, and they sacrificed to make it possible for her to develop it.

She came through the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association's women's pathways, working through age-group competitions and gradually into the senior MP Women's squad. Her all-round capability — right-arm medium pace and capable lower-order batting — made her stand out in domestic circuits where such players are rare and valuable.

The BCCI selectors who watch domestic women's cricket could not miss her for long.

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Path to International Cricket

Pooja Vastrakar made her ODI debut for India Women in 2017 — and that year she was included in India's squad for the ICC Women's World Cup in England, a tournament that India came heartbreakingly close to winning. To be part of a World Cup squad at 18, coming from Shahdol without a famous cricketing lineage or a city-academy background, was an achievement that deserved more recognition than it received at the time.

Her early international career was built primarily on her bowling — right-arm medium pace that moves both ways, rarely expensive, consistently capable of taking wickets with the new ball. But national selectors and coaches quickly identified that her batting had genuine value: she could come in at number eight, play with clarity and power, and manufacture runs in a way that changed the shape of a total.

Her development through 2018-2022 was steady rather than spectacular — the kind of quiet accumulation of competence that does not generate headlines but builds a cricketer who is genuinely difficult to leave out of a squad. By 2022 she was a regular in India's plans across formats, valued as much for her reliability as for her skill.

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Bowling and Batting Style

Pooja Vastrakar bowls right-arm medium pace with a clean, upright action that generates natural movement. She swings the ball conventionally at pace, and as the ball ages she is capable of bowling a cutters to keep batters from settling. Her strength is consistency of line and length — she is difficult to hit through the off side and she keeps batters under pressure by attacking the stumps.

With the bat, she is a left-handed lower-order player who plays with more technique than her batting position suggests. She can rotate the strike, play straight, and when required launch the ball over the in-field with timing rather than purely hitting through the line. In tight matches, a 30-run contribution from Pooja has won games that India might otherwise have lost.

The combination makes her an all-rounder in the truest sense: not a batter who bowls a bit, or a bowler who bats, but a player who contributes meaningfully in both disciplines in the same match.

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Career Statistics

ODI Career

Category	Figures
Matches	~75
Innings (Bat)	~50
Runs	~900
Batting Average	~22.00
Strike Rate (Bat)	~85
Highest Score	67*
Wickets	~80
Bowling Average	~26.00
Economy Rate	~5.00
Best Bowling	4/34

T20I Career

Category	Figures
Matches	~70
Innings (Bat)	~45
Runs	~500
Batting Average	~18.00
Strike Rate (Bat)	~110
Highest Score	38*
Wickets	~60
Economy Rate	~7.00
Best Bowling	3/24

Statistics are approximate as of early 2026.

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Career Milestones and Records

• 2017 Women's World Cup squad — part of India's historic campaign that reached the final and captured an entire nation's imagination.
• Consistent performer across two formats — has played in both ODI and T20I cricket with equal reliability over a sustained period.
• Lower-order batting match-winner — several instances of rescuing India totals with aggressive yet calculated lower-order batting.
• Domestic cricket dominance for MP — consistently her state's most impactful women's cricketer across formats in domestic cricket.
• WPL regular — establishing herself in the Mumbai Indians franchise as a dependable all-round option.

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WPL Career: Mumbai Indians

Pooja Vastrakar plays for Mumbai Indians in the Women's Premier League — and there is a symmetry to it, a player who earned everything through hard work and dedication finding her place in a franchise built on exactly those values. Mumbai Indians have historically backed all-round performers who can change a match in multiple ways, and Pooja fits that template precisely.

At WPL, she has contributed with both bat and ball across seasons, coming up with crucial performances in the moments that matter. Her ability to bat in the middle-to-lower order and bowl important overs across the match makes her a tactically flexible asset for any WPL captain.

The franchise environment has given her the professional structure, coaching access, and financial stability that allows her to focus entirely on cricket — a contrast with the earlier years in Shahdol, where the infrastructure and resources were far more limited.

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Achievements and Awards

• 2017 ICC Women's World Cup squad member
• MP Cricket Association's leading women's cricketer (multiple years)
• BCCI Women's central contract recipient
• WPL regular with Mumbai Indians
• Multiple bilateral series Player of the Match performances

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Personal Life

Pooja Vastrakar does not wear her story loudly. She does not seek sympathy for the difficult early years or make her father's sacrifice the centrepiece of every interview. But it is there, beneath the surface, giving everything she does on a cricket field a layer of meaning that purely comfortable paths to the top cannot replicate.

She has spoken with evident gratitude about her family's support — particularly her father's willingness to keep working those early mornings so that she could pursue a career in women's cricket before the BCCI central contracts and WPL salaries made it economically viable. The emotional debt is one she acknowledges and one she repays, in the only currency available to her, every time she performs for India.

Away from cricket, she is grounded, direct, and family-oriented. She has remained connected to Madhya Pradesh despite the pull of the cricketing capitals, and she takes genuine pride in representing the state that shaped her.

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Net Worth 2026

Pooja Vastrakar's net worth in 2026 is estimated at approximately ₹3–4 Crore. Her earnings come from:

• BCCI central contract (Women's contracted category)
• WPL salary — Mumbai Indians franchise
• Brand endorsements — growing profile from WPL exposure
• Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association domestic match fees
• Event and appearance income

The WPL era has transformed the earning potential of players like Pooja Vastrakar — mid-tier all-rounders who were previously undervalued commercially are now recognised as the pillars that franchise teams are built around.

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Legacy and Future Potential

Pooja Vastrakar's story is one of Indian women's cricket's most powerful arguments for why the game needs to be supported in smaller cities and non-traditional cricketing states. Without that early recognition from local coaches in Shahdol, without the MP Cricket Association's women's pathway, without a family willing to sacrifice for a dream that had no guaranteed return — she might never have existed as a cricketer at all.

Instead, she has taken a World Cup stage, has a WPL career, has worn the India Women's jersey scores of times, and has quietly become one of the team's most reliable contributors. Her father still wakes early in Shahdol. But now, perhaps, the mornings are a little lighter.

With her best years likely still ahead of her, Pooja Vastrakar has the potential to add significantly to her statistical record and to her already considerable legacy as an example of what determination over disadvantage looks like in Indian cricket.

Also read: Renuka Singh Biography | Deepti Sharma Biography | All Women's Cricket Articles

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Frequently Asked Questions

1. Where is Pooja Vastrakar from? Pooja Vastrakar was born on 12 February 1999 in Shahdol, Madhya Pradesh. She came through the MP Cricket Association's women's pathway and is the state's most celebrated women's cricketer.

2. What is special about Pooja Vastrakar's family background? Pooja Vastrakar's father is a day labourer in Shahdol. Her journey to international cricket, supported by a family with modest means and no cricketing connections, makes her story one of the most inspiring in Indian women's cricket.

3. Which WPL team does Pooja Vastrakar play for? Pooja Vastrakar plays for Mumbai Indians in the Women's Premier League.

4. Was Pooja Vastrakar part of the 2017 Women's World Cup? Yes, Pooja Vastrakar was part of India's squad for the 2017 ICC Women's World Cup in England — India's historic campaign that reached the final and inspired a generation of young Indian women cricketers.

5. What is Pooja Vastrakar's net worth in 2026? Pooja Vastrakar's net worth is estimated at approximately ₹3–4 Crore in 2026, derived from her BCCI central contract, WPL salary with Mumbai Indians, and brand endorsements.