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Follow UsWhat were you doing when you were 16? Probably chilling with your friends during the final stages of school?
Well, at 16, Shabnam Shakil from Vizag, Andhra Pradesh, was busy dismissing Alyssa Healy, Chamati Athapaththu and Shweta Sehrawat in what was a do-or-die game for the UP Warriorz with the second edition of the WPL reaching its Hunger Games phase. If that wasn’t enough, she had already sent Nat Sciver-Brunt packing as her first wicket in the WPL on Saturday (March 9).
A few of you might remember Shabnam from when she was part of India’s victorious Under-19 squad that participated in the inaugural Women’s Under-19 World Cup in 2023.
However. for most of this WPL season, you could have found her running drinks near the boundary line, soaking the electric atmosphere at the Chinnaswamy. She debuted against the RCB at the same ground, where she gave 27 in her four overs. But today, not only was she more economical, but also a twinkling star for the Giants amidst the darkness of their second poor season in a row.
Bowling the first over of the game isn’t easy. It becomes even tougher when you have to bowl against the class of Alyssa Healy and Kiran Navgire. But this 16-year-old is special. So special that despite conceding a boundary on the first ball of her over, which was so full and wide that it shouted ‘hit me please,’ she had the temperament not to get subdued but rather bounce back even stronger.
The next one was much straighter and on a fuller length. All Healy could do was defend. The control was coming back, and it took her only one delivery to do that!
Shabnam bowled the next one fuller again, but it swung in just a bit. Healy’s eyes must have lit up seeing the full length delivery angling into her. She would have wanted to take the teenager to the cleaners, and she tried exactly that. The only thing was that it wasn’t easy. This was no ordinary teenager.
Healy threw her bat at it, trying to loft her above the in-field. But all she could manage to connect was the toe end of her bat, and the ball didn’t go further than the hands of Mannat Kashyap at mid-off.
After the Australian skipper, entered one of the most devastating left-handed batters to play the game who also captains Sri Lanka - Chamari Athapaththu.
Shabnam wouldn’t have cared for all the players’ stature. Because not only did she not give a loosener for Chamari to make her life easy, she lured her into playing a rash shot after bowling two consecutive dots.
It’s hard to ascertain if it was Chamari’s ego or Shabnam’s open invitation to hit her over the in-field. But Chamari took a step out against the teenager and looked to go big through the covers. However, bowling from over the wicket to the leftie, Shabnam took the ball further away, and the ball was skied.
She had two in her first over. If you count Sciver-Brunt, that’s three wickets that she never would have thought of getting as her first three scalps in the WPL.
If the first two deliveries were proof of her temperament and control, the third was just her showing off her pace, skiddiness, and the inherent penetration in her bowling.
UPW had already lost four wickets in the powerplay. Shabnam continued her spell, bowling her fourth over on the trot. In front of her was her vice-captain from the Under-19 World Cup Shweta Sehrawat, who was also the leading run-scorer of that tournament.
Shweta had already hit her for a crisp boundary towards extra cover off a full delivery. It was the last ball of the over now. Shabnam bowled it on a back of length (which is her default length as well), on a fifth stump line, the ball seamed back in after pitching and completed the ultimate form of dismissal for a pacer - hitting the top of off!
The UP Warriorz were reduced to 35/5 in 7 overs, and at the end, even Deepti Sharma's 88 off 60 couldn't help them from drowning most of their probabilities of making the top three.
For a 16-year-old to not err and neither bowl too full nor short, be disciplined, and bowl incisive deliveries to the batters of the class of Healy, Athapaththu and Sciver-Brunt is a sign that they are made for this stage.
The most remarkable thing about Shabnam the bowler is the sheer amount of force she puts through her shoulders after a big jump in her action, and also uses the seam well. A good seam position allows her some movement in the air. Hence, her deliveries always do something - either off the pitch or in the air. Moreover, putting more of her shoulder in her action allows her to bowl that heavy ball, which is always hard to hit.
Today, Shabnam Shakil’s three wickets came for just 11 runs. Not only was she the best Giants bowler today, she has given them a lot of fresh hope at the fag end of another season where they might fail to make the playoffs even if they win their last game.
And hope, as Morgan Freeman said in The Shawshank Redemption, is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.
