Image Credit- BCCI
At the age of
sixteen, you took the wickets of Nat Sciver-Brunt, Alyssa Healy, and Chamari
Athapaththu in the WPL in your first three innings. Even though Shabnam Shakil
is still in school, her success in the WPL 2024 has already set #careergoals
for her.
With a 4-0-3-11 performance in Delhi on a chilly Monday night, Shabnam gave
optimism to Indian women’s cricket as well as the Gujarat Giants, who are
theoretically still in the running for a playoff position following an
eight-run victory over UP Warriorz.
With two games
remaining, the Giants had already lost five of their previous six games going
into the game. Beth Mooney’s undefeated 74 had forced Warriorz, who had chosen
to bat, to a subpar 152 for 8. Warriorz needed a victory in order to move into
the top three. They were currently sitting slightly above the Giants in the
points table with six points.
Healy, who has played in 153 Twenty20 Internationals, welcomed medium-pacer
Shabnam to the bowling attack with a four through backward point. It was an outside-off
half-volley that received the appropriate response. However, Shabnam, unfazed,
swiftly figured it out. She removed Healy with a full delivery outside off
stump from the third ball, which held up just enough. In the end, Healy miscued
this to mid-off.
Athapaththu, a
different player with more than 100 T20Is, entered.
Shabnam remained unfrightened. Athapaththu’s outside edge was beaten by the
sixth ball of the over, which moved away late. The final ball was another
full-length delivery that was angled away from the left-hand hitter and outside
off stump. Ash Gardner caught Athapaththu at extra cover after she just managed
to get an outside edge on the drive.
Warriors 4 to 2. Shabnam 1-0-4-2.
Shabnam didn’t allow
the fervour or intensity to wain. She finished the powerplay with 3-0-6-2 by
following it up with two overs at one run. It was challenging for the batters
to get down on the pitch against her because of how hard she hit the pitch. Warriorz
were strangled by Gardner and Kathryn Bryce, who each claimed a wicket at the
opposite end.
In order to keep the batters guessing, she bowled out in her fourth over,
altering her lengths. Her India Under-19 teammate Shweta Sehrawat was removed
by her before she could sign off with a delivery that was back-of-a-length that
nipped back in to go past the outside edge and hit the top of off stump.
Though Warriorz
recovered, thanks to Deepti Sharma’s 88 not out and Poonam Khemnar’s unbeaten
36, they could not get over the line.
The first edition of
the WPL gave us several Indian domestic talents, such as Saika Ishaque and
Shreyanka Patil, who have moved up the ladder quickly to the senior national
team after benefitting from exposure on a big stage. For Shabnam, this season
might be the first steps in that direction too.