Shabnam is young, quick, takes big wickets, and is just a bit different

You are just 16, and your first three wickets in the WPL are Nat Sciver-Brunt, Alyssa Healy, and Chamari Athapaththu. Shabnam Shakil is yet to finish school, but she has already given #careergoals with her performance in WPL 2024.

In Delhi on a chilly Monday night, with a spell of 4-0-3-11, Shabnam not only provided hope for Gujarat Giants - who are mathematically still in the race for a playoff spot after an eight-run win over UP Warriorz - but also for Indian women's cricket.

Giants came into the contest having lost five of their six matches with two more to go. Opting to bat against Warriorz, Beth Mooney's unbeaten 74 had dragged them to a below-par 152 for 8. Warriorz, just above bottom-placed Giants on the points table with six points, also needed a win to get into the top three.

Opening the bowling, medium-pacer Shabnam was greeted by Healy - with the experience of 153 T20Is - with a four through backward point. It was a half-volley outside off and got the treatment it deserved. But Shabnam, not intimidated by Healy, got it right quickly. Off the third ball, she dismissed Healy with a full delivery outside off stump that just held up slightly. Healy ended up miscuing this to mid-off.

In walked Athapaththu - another player with 100-plus T20Is.

Shabnam was still not intimidated. The fifth ball of the over moved away late to beat Athapaththu's outside edge. The last ball was another full-length delivery outside off stump, angling away from the left-hand batter. Athapaththu went for it, but only got her outside edge on the drive, and was caught by Ash Gardner at extra cover.

Warriorz 4 for 2. Shabnam 1-0-4-2.

Shabnam did not let the energy or the intensity die down. She followed it up with two one-run overs to finish the powerplay with 3-0-6-2. She hit the pitch hard, which made it difficult for the batters to get down the pitch against her. With Gardner and Kathryn Bryce picking up a wicket apiece from the other end, Warriorz were caught in a strangle.

She bowled out, varying her lengths in her fourth over to keep the batters guessing. Before signing off, she knocked over Shweta Sehrawat - also her India Under-19 team-mate - with a back-of-a-length delivery that nipped back in to go past the outside edge and hit the top of off stump. That left Warriorz reeling at 35 for 5. Shabnam was done. The Player-of-the-Match award was in the bag too.

Though Warriorz recovered, thanks to Deepti Sharma's 88 not out and Poonam Khemnar's unbeaten 36, they could not get over the line.

"I am so happy to perform on such a platform and getting to play with such big names," Shabnam said afterwards. "I love bowling with the new ball like any pacer. I was getting that boost bowling with the new ball, and I was just enjoying my bowling."

Shabnam started playing at the age of nine. Her parents are from the navy, and it was her father, a fast bowler who played club cricket in Andhra, who made her choose cricket. She began training under P Nagaraju at his academy in Visakapatnam, where she worked on her long run-up and bowled quick. In her early days, she turned to videos of Brett Lee and Jasprit Bumrah for inspiration.

Like any youngster pursuing cricket, her days had two practice sessions, in the morning, before school, and then in the evening. In 2021, Shabnam made her state debut for Andhra in the Women's Under-19 One-Day Trophy in Surat. In 2022, she featured in the Senior Women's Inter-Zonal T20 Trophy. The same year, she was picked in the India squad for the inaugural Women's Under-19 World Cup in South Africa, played in 2023. India went on to win the title, but Shabnam played just two games and returned with a solitary wicket.

However, she had impressed head coach Nooshin Al Khadeer, who noted her ability to clock 110kph. With Nooshin joining the Giants set-up as bowling coach for the inaugural WPL, Shabnam was roped in for a base price of INR 10 lakh. She was still just 15.

Shabnam warmed the bench in the first season and did not feature in the first four matches of the ongoing season, all of which Giants lost in Bengaluru. But when the tournament moved to Delhi, Giants decided to unleash her against Royal Challengers Bangalore. At 16, she was the youngest debutant in the WPL.

Against RCB, being introduced as the seventh bowler, she was hit for a first-ball four by Sophie Devine. She ended her three overs wicketless and conceded 27 runs.

In the next game against Mumbai Indians, Shabnam got her first WPL wicket, of Sciver-Brunt, with her third ball. Her ability to hit higher speeds was evident in that game, when she clocked 109kph.

"I learnt a lot during my Under-19 days," Shabnam, who idolises Jhulan Goswami, said after the match on Monday. "I got a platform there. That was my platform, I learnt a lot from there, and I am applying that experience in practice.

"Last year, during WPL as well, I spoke a lot to the coaches, Nooshin ma'am and Mithali [Raj, Giants' mentor] ma'am. I am trying to work on all the feedback I got from them."

Giants head coach Michael Klinger has also been impressed with her work ethic. Klinger saw her first at the ten-day camp before this season, but felt she was "a bit different".

"She was super impressive," Klinger said. "She is a bit different as well. She swings the ball in - not a lot of quick bowlers do that. And she is going to develop the slower ball over the year or so, which is going to make her stronger. She can bowl cross-seam as well, which on some wickets comes into play. Her maturity is beyond her age, and she has got the work ethic. She is only going to get stronger and fitter over time as well, and that's going to help.

"Whether she did well or not in the last couple of games, I honestly don't mind because if the girls work as hard as someone like Shabnam, you want to give them opportunities, and she got that in the last couple of games."

The first edition of the WPL gave us several Indian domestic talents, such as Saika Ishaque and Shreyanka Patil, who have moved up the ladder quickly to the senior national team after benefitting from exposure on a big stage. For Shabnam, this season might be the first steps in that direction too.