Shabnim Ismail Biography :
Shabnim Ismail is an Indian origin South African fast bowler. Currently she is known to be the fastest bowler in the world. She once bowled with the staggering 128 Kilometres per hour. This is the fastest recorded delivery in Women’s Cricket.
She is selected to play for South Africa Women’s team in the T20 World Cup slated this year in Australia. She is the only muslim cricketer to represent South Africa on international stage.
Early Life
She was born on 5 October 1988 in Cape Town, South Africa. In school, she used to play in the mixed gender team of the school. When she was sixteen, she was selected to play for Western Cape Town.
Next year, she was playing for Western Province Women’s team where she impressed South African team management with her fast and accurate bowling. She made her international debut in One days against Pakistan in 2007. Since then she has been a regular member of the South Africa Women’s team.
Debut
Test- 2007 vs Netherlands
ODIs- 2007 vs Pakistan
T20s- 2007 vs New Zealand
Career stats
Bowling
Test- 1 M/ 3 wickets/ avg 6.7/ Eco. 0.80
ODIs- 95 M/ 133 wickets/ avg 20.8/ Eco. 3.59
T20s- 84 M/ 92 wickets/ avg 18.4/ Eco. 5.77
Batting
Test- 1 M/ 1 run/ avg. 1.0/ SR 10
ODIs- 95 M/ 408 runs/ avg. 11.7/ SR 54.8
T20s- 84 M/ 173 runs/ avg. 7.5/ SR 76.9
Professional Career
She is the leading wicket taker for South Africa Women across formats. She took 15 wickets in her debut season playing for Western Province. She has played in a number of finals in the Provincial League. She switched to Gauteng in the 2015-16 season.
She is one of the few players who have played all editions of the T20 World Cup since its inaugural edition 2009 in England.She took the highest number of wickets for her side in the 2009 T20 World Cup when she got 7 scalps in three games.
In the 2011 World Cup Qualifiers, she took 6/10 against Netherlands to set the best bowling figure record by a South African Women.
South Africa reached the Super-6 stage in the 2013 Women’s World Cup where Ismail returned with 11 wickets from 7 games. She got the highest wickets for South Africa.
In the subsequent 2014 T20 World Cup Bangladesh, she along with Marizanne Kapp made a formidable bowling pair to help South Africa reach the semifinals of the tournament.
They took seven wickets each.
She couldn’t repeat her heroics in the 2017 edition of the Women’s World Cup. But she was part of an impressive bowling group who helped South Africa make the semifinalists.
In the 2018 T20 World Cup, she again came at the top by taking six wickets, the highest for the team. In the same year, she was awarded a National Contract by CSA. South Africa will be hoping that she remains in good form throughout the 2020 World Cup. She would be an important asset to the team.
The only controversy over her whole career was that when she got suspended from National Academy over an alcohol related accident.
She has had a brief career in Big Bash. She signed with Melbourne Renegades in the 2015-16 season. She has 13 wickets from 15 matches in her Big Bash career.
She had a short stint with Yorkshire Diamonds in the Women’s Cricket Super League in England.
Playing role- Fast bowler
Batting style- Left handed
Bowling- Right arm Fast
Team’s played for- Melbourne Renegades, South Africa Women, Yorkshire Diamonds, Western Province
Formats played- All formats
Public Life
She loves bowling fast and also she is fond of fast cars. Her dream car is a Ford Focus ST.
She has also studied Mechanical Engineering in her college days. The most lethal weapon in her armoury is Bouncer. She idolises Andre Nel who also used to ball a lot of bouncers. She is a perfect team player who puts the team ahead of herself.
Full Name- Shabnim Ismail
Nickname- NA
Age- 31 years old
Hometown- Cape Town, South Africa
Zodiac sign- Libra
Nationality- South Africa
Date of birth- 5 October,1988
School- NA
University- NA
Estimated Net worth- Approx. 2 Million US Dollars
