Shabnim Ismail, a pacer for the Mumbai Indians, broke the 130 kph mark during Tuesday’s Women’s Premier League (WPL 2024) match against the Delhi Capitals in Delhi, setting a record for the fastest ball in women’s cricket history. Ismail met the speed-gun on broadcast with a delivery speed of 132.1 kph.
Meg Lanning of the Capitals was struck on the front pad by Shabnim’s longer delivery, which came in the second over of the third over in the game. MI requested a leg-before, but the umpire denied their request.
At the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, during the opening match of the WPL 2024 season against the Capitals, the 35-year-old bowled a delivery at a pace of 128.3 km/h.
After the game, Ismail played down her effort, saying, “I actually don’t look at the big screen when I’m bowling.”
Ismail had a poor performance in his first game back in the starting lineup after missing a few games, giving up 46 runs in four overs for just one wicket. After restricting Mumbai to 192 for four in 20 overs, the Capitals won by 29 runs.
Along with being the fastest bowler in women’s international cricket, the South African pacer also holds the record, having reached 128 kph against the West Indies in 2016 and then twice reaching 127 kph during the 2022 ODI World Cup. Ismail bowled one of the fastest overs in women’s cricket history in the 2023 T20 World Cup against England, with speeds of 119, 122, 126, 120, 125, and 128.
Ismail called it quits on his 16-year career as an international cricket player in May 2023, just after the domestic T20 World Cup. In 241 international matches for the Proteas, she took 317 wickets in various formats. She continues to lead South Africa’s T20I charts (123), but she is still the second-highest wicket-taker in women’s ODIs (191).
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