Shabnim Ismail, the former South Africa pacer, on Tuesday, broke the record for the fastest ball bowled in women’s cricket when she fired one in at 132.1 kph while playing a WPL 2024 match for Mumbai Indians against Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitely Stadium in New Delhi.
Shabnim Ismail’s delivery – the first-ever by a women’s cricketer that breached the 130kph barrier – was the second ball of the third over of the match that struck DC captain Meg Lanning on the pads. MI went up in an appeal but was turned down by the umpire.
The ex-South African quick, who also held the record for the previous fastest ball – 128 kph against West Indies in 2016 and 127 kph – twice during the 2022 ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup, retired following last year’s T20 WC.
Ismail however did not have the greatest outings as he got walloped for 46 runs, including getting hit for three consecutive sixes by Shafali Verma in her third over. When asked if she was aware of the record, Ismail said she doesn’t actually “look at the big screen when bowling.”
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