Former South Africa pacer Shabnim Ismail, who plays for Mumbai Indians in the Women’s Premier League, created history when she bowled the fastest delivery ever recorded in women’s cricket.
Ismail broke the record with a delivery that clocked the speed of 132.1km/h (82.08mph) when bowling for the Mumbai Indians in their WPL clash against the Delhi Capitals at Arun Jaitley Stadium on Tuesday.
It was the first time that a delivery in women’s cricket has been clocked at a speed greater than 130km/h, with Ismail’s thunderbolt smashing into the pad of former Australia captain Meg Lanning on the second ball of the third over of the match, ICC reports.
Ismail, who appeared for South Africa in all eight previous ICC Women’s T20 World Cups and only retired from international cricket following last year’s tournament on home soil, had previously been clocked as bowling at 128km/h (79.54mph) against the West Indies in 2016 and at 127km/h twice during the most recent edition of the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup in 2022.
However, Ismail’s efforts were in vain as she delivered four expensive overs to finish with figures of 1/46 as the MI went down to the DC by 29 runs.