The Women’s Premier League (WPL) will begin its debut season on March 4 in Mumbai. It is a much-anticipated tournament because women’s cricket has grown tremendously in recent years. Before to the competition, a player auction was held in Mumbai earlier this month, where numerous notable players built a reputation for themselves and received large sums of money. Several unknown names, on the other hand, made heads turn when their services were purchased by one of the five teams. Sonam Yadav was among those who made the news.
Sonam, 15, was bought by the Mumbai Indians (MI) franchise with INR 1 million (INR 10 lakhs).
So who exactly is Sonam Yadav? Here’s everything you need to know about her:
— She is the WPL’s youngest player to find a team.
— Sonam was a member of India’s U-19 World Cup-winning team, led by Shafali Verma.
— The Uttar Pradesh-born left-arm spinner began playing cricket at the age of 13. She has also represented Uttar Pradesh on the domestic circuit.
— Her contract with MI might be worth up to a hundred times her father’s monthly pay from shift labor at a glass factory.
Humble beginnings
Sonam’s family house lies on the outskirts of Firozabad, about an hour’s drive from the Taj Mahal, and is adjacent to a fetid open sewage drain where mice and stray dogs are widespread.
Sonam is the youngest of six siblings. She told AFP, “It’s very difficult to make ends meet with my father’s salary. We have to face a lot of money problems.” She added, “I have many dreams, I want to take my family out for dinner and give a big car to my father.”
Meanwhile, Mukesh Kumar — her father — pointed out, “We could not afford expensive cricket gear. She did not even have proper shoes and had to borrow a pair before going to trials for a tournament.” He further asserted, “I started working double shifts and my son dropped out of school and took up a private job to support her dreams.”
Sonam — a big fan of Ravindra Jadeja — shared her big dreams and revealed what she aspires to take from WPL. In this regard, she said, “I will get to learn a lot from playing alongside the seniors. All I want is to play for the India seniors team one day and give a good life to my family.”