Life as a globe-trotting T20 freelancer was turning out just fine for Shabnim Ismail. Shortly after the decision to turn tormentor-for-hire, she picked a sensational hattrick against Birmingham Phoenix to defend three in as many final deliveries for Welsh Fire at the 2023 Women's Hundred. Her four-fer in the WCPL final was in vain but she would soon become Hobart Hurricanes first pick in the inaugural WBBL draft that followed next week.
Less than three months ago, though, the South African speedstar had her WPL career stuck in limbo. She was admittedly happy to have been released by UP Warriorz after a season of just three middling outings in 2023, but Ismail didn't know if the subsequent mini auction dynamics would encourage bids for a now-retired 35-year-old foreign pacer. However, Mumbai Indians' aggressive bidding all but assured her more game time come WPL 2024. And she landed in India all fired up; like she always seems to be.
Ask Delhi Capitals' Shafali Verma, who had her mid pole brutally knocked out in front of a crowd of 25,000 on the opening night on Friday. The partisan Bengaluru troupe was made to sit up and take notice. Ismail was breathing fire. On Sunday, she followed up her thunderous debut act with a game-changing new-ball burst on a slower wicket that sent Gujarat Giants' batting spiralling.
Admittedly when Ismail saw the tinge of green on the fresh track, adjacent to the one she made her MI debut on two nights ago, she expected it to play out similarly. 'Nice bounce, nice carry, life's good', she might have thought. Ismail moved on to the practice pitch, going through her pre-match routines and beating the life out of those plastic stumps. But two balls in, after MI opted to bowl first, she had to quickly reassess. And she produced immediate results.
A full ball that swung in from outside off had Veda Krishnamurthy, on WPL debut, playing down the wrong line and getting rapped on the pads. It was so plumb to even the naked eye that Ismail cut short the celebrations and asked 'but the umpire's given out' as the Giants openers scurried through for a probable leg bye. Veda burnt a review but Ismail had nothing to worry about.
Ismail was mobbed by her teammates again shortly afterwards as she dished out a near similar delivery to Harleen Deol in her next, who missed trying to tuck it to the legside and got hit on the front knee-roll. The celebrations were momentarily halted for another DRS referral by the Giants, who had slipped to 11/2. A bouncer to Beth Mooney followed in the same over, which the Giants skipper ducked with no apetite for risk remaining even in the PowerPlay.
"Last track was much quicker and I actually thought it was going to be the same. But, clearly not," Ismail said after the game. "So, after my first two balls, I had to assess as quick as I could and make sure I put in the necessary effort. This wicket was much slower, so I knew I needed to go a bit fuller and obviously just keep the wickets into play. Just [clicked, and I] came out on top today."
Witnessing the wicket procession from 22 years, Mooney huffed and puffed her way to a steady 21-ball 24 by the halfway mark. Giving her company was her Australian teammate Ashleigh Gardner. Harmanpreet knew any of the two wickets at that juncture would have broken the back of the Giants batting, and she brought back Ismail for the 11th itself.
Coming around the wicket, Ismail took pace off as she saw Mooney shuffle across for a premeditated scoop. It was only at 97 clicks, and so Mooney failed to get proper contact for the attempted paddle. A faint trickle to the keeper, and Giants were down to 58/5.
Ismail left the bottom half of the batting order for Amelia Kerr to mop up, which the leggie duly did on either side of a rearguard act of 48 from Kathryn Bryce and Tanuja Kanwer. Even with the slowness of the pitch, 126 was below par by at least 20.
"Look, she's a pure, genuine pace bowler who brings a wealth of experience, and having such a player in the team is also very important in this competition," Harmanpreet Kaur had said on Ismail's addition to the MI roster on the eve of the tournament opener.
By directly onboarding the South African to their starting XI, in a direct swap with Issy Wong, the defending champions, and Harmanpreet, are openly defying the old adage of why mend it when it's not broken. And Ismail is ensuring, game after game, there be no second thoughts about that.
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