NEWS
Follow Us16-year-old Shabnam Shakil created giant waves in her side's match against the UP Warriorz on Monday (March 11), in which she finished with figures of 3 for 11. Gujarat Giants head coach Michael Klinger was pleased with the teenager's performance in the game and believes that her maturity was beyond her years.
Having set Warriorz a target of 153, Shabman dented their chances with the wickets of Alyssa Healy, Chamari Athapaththu and Shweta Sehrawat in her four-over burst. While the Warriorz put up a fight, the Giants held on to pick up their second win of the Women's Premier League (WPL) 2024 season.
"She's a great, young kid. She has come from the Under-19s team and she's always working on her game. To me, that work ethic is the most important and she deserves the result she got tonight and last game as well. For her first game, she bowled excellently," Klinger said at the post-match press conference.
"Big credit also has to go to our analyst. The plans he came up with myself for this game was spot on against their batting line-up and. Shabnam was the one we went to, and he suggested that, so credit to him for that but Shabnam delivered. That was great."
While she already has the skills and some variations, Klinger believes that Shabnam developing a slower delivery over the next year could make her deadlier.
"She's a bit different. She swings the ball in, not all quick bowlers do that. She's going to develop a slower ball over the next year or so, which is only going to make her even stronger. She can bowl cross-seam as well, which on some wickets that are variable comes into play," Klinger said.
"Her maturity is beyond her years, and she has got the work ethic. She's only going to get stronger and fitter over time. So, that's going to help. Whether she did well in the last couple of games or not, I don't mind because when The girls work as hard as they do and someone like Shabnam, you want to give them opportunities, and she got them in the last couple of games."
Having won just one of their six games before this, Klinger said that the team discussed about showing character in their last two games, approaching the game with a 'team-first' attitude.
"In our team meeting yesterday evening, we spoke about what we look for in our players in terms of character. We could have gone two ways: dropped our heads and cruised through our last two games or kept our heads high, play competitively and see which characters wanted to stand out. We saw that today," Klinger, who takes charge of the Giants ahead of WPL 2024, said.
"We talked about it just before the game that if we individually and collectively play keep playing tough cricket, all I ask is from the 11 players is to try and be the player of the match. They went in with that attitude, and there were a lot of contributors. I couldn't be happier with the team-first mentality."
With Kathryn Bryce being the only associate player in the side, it has given Gujarat an opportunity to play five overseas players in the XI.
Speaking of the logic of picking Bryce, Klinger said, "She has been a fantastic contributor for us. She's a hard trainer, she fits into the group really well, she's hungry to have success being an associate player. She's like a role-player for us.
"Strategically, we got her in because we felt having an extra all-rounder in the middle, which we didn't have from a local perspective that, was going to give us balance. Credit goes to those who picked her up in the auction and she's delivered really well.
"She's another one who works really hard at her game. She's going to have a long career for her country as well and hopefully for Gujarat Giants down the track."
Gujarat Giants remain at the foot of the WPL 2024 points table and will take on Delhi Capitals on Wednesday (March 13) in a bid to ensure that they do not finish at the bottom for two years in a row.
