Women's WT20: Radha Yadav wants dad to give up selling vegetables

Omprakash Yadav

Indian women's team left-arm spinner Radha Yadav's parents and coach were thrilled to see her earn her maiden Player of the Match award after claiming her T20I career-best of 4-23 against Sri Lanka in Melbourne on Saturday. India have already booked their semi-final spot in the ICC T20 World Cup.

Radha's father Omprakash revealed that his daughter is urging him to move to Baroda and stop selling vegetables in Kandivli.

Radha,19, shifted her base to Baroda to train with her coach Prafull Naik five years ago. "She has been telling me to stop being a vegetable vendor and shift to Baroda with her. But, I am 55 now... what can I do at this age? I cannot sit idle... I need some work," Yadav Sr told mid-day on Saturday.

Radha's tiny residence was buzzing since Saturday morning after "30 to 40" residents of the Jeevandeep Society watched the match. "We all are speechless and really proud of her. Around 30 to 40 people from our building watched the match with us. It was really special when she won the Player of the Match award. We have been waiting for it since a long time," said Radha's father.

Radha's coach Naik said not including her ward for the first two group matches against Australia and Bangladesh fired her up to do something special. "When she got an opportunity against New Zealand, she bowled well [1-25] and scored 14 useful runs off just nine balls, which helped us to win the game by three runs. And today, she bowled her best spell, tossing the ball even after getting hit for a six [by SL skipper Chamari Atapattu]. She got her wicket off the very next ball. Not being a part of the playing XI charged her up to give the best. She is always up for a challenge," Naik said.

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