Under the captaincy of Pooja Mahato, who is becoming the backbone of women's cricket, the Nepali U-19 women's team returned from playing the ICC World Cup in Malaysia last year.

Pooja performed well for Nepal in the ICC U-19 Women's T-20 World Cup qualifiers. She also scored the most runs in the qualifiers and also took the second most wickets. She scored a century and took 5 wickets in the match against Kuwait as part of Asia qualifiers. Pooja, who scored 272 runs in qualifying, managed to take 10 wickets.

Pooja, who is leading the U-19 women's team, has made herself a part of the national team. Right-handed batsman and medium speed bowler, she is famous at national and international level. 

For Pooja, who was born in a cowshed in Mahottari district in February 2006, her father Ranjith's struggle is a source of inspiration. Pooja reached there with her father who had gone to India for employment. Father Ranjit came to Delhi from Mahottari with a poor financial condition and a dream to improve the future of his family. Ranjith was making the future of three daughters and one son bright by bearing all the hardships that came his way. Pooja is Miley's daughter.

Pooja, who started cricket training with her brother after the Covid epidemic, has now established herself as an all-rounder in the national team. My brother started playing cricket. We used to take him to the academy to teach him cricket. I used to play sometimes when I went with him. One day the coach of the academy talked to my father and said that your daughter also has the ability to play cricket, she should play,' Pooja said, remembering the beginning days of her cricket career, 'Father said that you should also play, that gave me the courage to learn more. I also started cricket training.' 

Pooja's arrival in Nepal is also connected with Bhai. Bhai participated in the U-15 cricket tournament. In one of the games, his brother won the player of the match award. Roshan Kumar Singh, the current Vice President of CAN, was the one who presented the award. Singh was told by his brother that his sister Pooja and Aarti also play cricket. From Delhi, Pooja sent a video of her playing cricket to Singh. Then Roshan drove Pooja from Delhi. Pooja says that it was the then CAN Koshadysh Singh who introduced her to Nepali cricket.

Pooja made her senior national team debut against Hong Kong in the ICC T20 World Cup Asia Regional Qualifier held in Malaysia. In that match, she bowled 3 overs and took 1 wicket with only 5 runs with 1 maiden. She also scored 16 runs while playing 18 balls in the opening batting. 

Pooja, who has batted 14 innings in 20 matches for the national team, has scored 185 runs with a half-century. On bowling, she has taken 16 wickets in 19 innings. Under her captaincy, Nepal historically played the ICC T-20 World Cup in the age group. In the World Cup, Nepal was placed in Group 'D' which included Bangladesh, Scotland and Australia.

Even though Nepal could not win a single game in the group stage, it had an impressive performance. Individually, Pooja scored 27 runs against Scotland and three wickets against Australia, along with 18 runs. Under Pooja's captaincy, Nepal played the U-19 Women's Asia Cup, where Nepal managed to reach the previous stage by defeating Pakistan.