Watch: The South Africa pacer Shabnim Ismail once again stood between Pakistan and a win in the women’s World Cup, and not for the first time.
In another thrilling game in the 2022 Women’s ODI World Cup, Pakistan and South Africa tussled it out till the last over with Shabnim Ismail making the big difference with a clinical final over. With 10 needed to win in one over and three wickets remaining, Pakistan were stopped on their tracks by Ismail, who bowled a brilliant over and pulled off one of the catches of the tournament.
Diana Baig flicked the first ball in the mid-wicket region and stole two runs to start off the over. The next delivery, she tried to smash one out of the ground but ended up top-edging it in the air. Ismail had quite some distance to cover to her right and took a brilliant running catch at the edge of the inner circle.
This wasn’t the first time that Ismail had caused heartbreaks in the Pakistan camp. In 2017 too, her contribution in the final overs turned out to be the difference between the two sides. In that game, South Africa needed 14 off 10 balls with three wickets remaining, the exact mirror-image of what Pakistan needed today. Ismail, who was at the crease then, hit three boundaries to finish the game off in the 49th over itself.
After her incredible running catch in the World Cup game on Friday, commentator Nasser Hussain lavished praise on her, hailing her as “an incredible athlete”.
“She is so fast. Running in one direction, turns and goes the other [way]. Never easy, never took her eyes of the ball. That is an outstanding bit of athleticism from a fast bowler.”
Pakistan never quite recovered from this, and lost the game by six runs with Ismail conceding just three runs in the crucial final over.
Watch Shabnim Ismail’s catch and the final over here:
View this post on Instagram
View this post on Instagram
