Left field to centre stage: Saika Ishaque breaks through Premium

Largely an unknown quantity even in India before the Women’s Premier League, the Mumbai Indians left-arm spinner has been a revelation under the bright lights

Amelia Kerr had a good look at this left-arm spinner she hadn’t heard of in her six-year international career, as the Mumbai Indians sweated it out ahead of the Women’s Premier League.

Kerr, who famously took five for 17 with her leg-spin after cracking 232 not out off 145 balls as a 17-year-old in an ODI for New Zealand against Ireland back in 2018, said to coach Charlotte Edwards and captain Harmanpreet Kaur: “She is very good. She is going to do well.”

Saika Ishaque is doing well indeed. In her first four games, she took 12 wickets to stake an early claim for the WPL’s purple cap.

Saika’s performance may not have surprised Kerr and the MI camp. But, for the rest of the world, she has been a revelation. Largely an unknown quantity even in India until recently, she has, so far, been the find of the WPL.

Last November, this correspondent watched her bowl in the T20 Challenger Trophy at Raipur. It was the last chance for fringe players to attract the attention of the prospective franchises of the prospective women’s league (the WPL hadn’t been announced yet).

Saika had turned 27 the previous month, so time was running out. She got to play only two matches. In the first, she took two for eight from four overs. One of those victims was the experienced Indian batter Jemimah Rodrigues, whom she clean-bowled.