When she bowled the fastest ball in women’s cricket history, South African bowler Shabnim Ismail made history in the sport. Tuesday, March 4, at the Arun Jaitley Stadium saw the Mumbai Indians’ right-arm pacer smash a ball that measured an incredible 132.1 km/h against the Delhi Capitals.
As Ismail charged in to bowl to Delhi captain Meg Lanning, the event happened in the second ball of the third over. The former Australia captain missed it as it smashed into her front pad because she misjudged the delivery’s speed. The current champions requested LBW, but the onfield umpire rejected it.
while asked if this was the fastest she has ever bowled, Ismail, 35, responded that she doesn’t look at the big screen while she bowls. This was after the innings ended.
“When I go bowling, I don’t look at the big screen,” Shabnim Ismail stated in a JioCinema conversation.
Ismail is the record holder for the fastest delivery in international women’s cricket, in addition to her achievements in the WPL. In a match against the West Indies in 2016, she set a previous record of 128 km/h, and twice in the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup in 2022, she reached 127 km/h. But before, she had never been able to go beyond the 130 kmph mark, which changed versus Delhi.
By a score of 29 runs, the Delhi Capitals women defeated the Mumbai Indians.
In terms of her performance, Delhi scored 192 runs in the first inning, despite Ismail leaking 46 runs in four overs. Jemimah Rodrigues later capitalized on the tone that Lanning and Shafali had set for the match. Shafali, in particular, gave Delhi the perfect start with a century of runs off of 12 deliveries, while Lanning added 53 runs off of 38. Later on, Jemimah joined the fray and scored 69* runs off of 33 deliveries, giving Delhi the advantage at halftime.
Mumbai had difficulty from the beginning of the run chase. The Harmanpreet Kaur-led team persisted despite being down to 29/3. Delhi won the match with a score of 29 runs, despite some strong final-inning play by Amanjot Kaur and Sanjeevan Sajana.