Meg Lanning, Jemimah Rodrigues, Sophie Devine and Shafali Verma – some of Saika Ishaque’s victims in the ongoing WPL. Looking at some of the top names in Saika’s wickets column, the current Purple Cap holder in WPL can very well gilt frame the dismissals and keep it somewhere in her drawing room.
It isn’t just about Saika picking up some prized scalps in the WPL but the manner in which she dismissed some of those batters exemplifies the point that she has unremitting self belief. As an example, just run through her scalps in Mumbai Indians’ game against Delhi Capitals. While facing Saika, Jemimah looked to manufacture room and subsidize width, but the left-arm spinner watched the feet of the batter and darted in the arm ball to rattle the timber. When Lanning chipped down the deck, Saika tossed the ball up at around 79 km/h and induced her to drive to the fielder stationed in the covers. Both those scalps give an inkling that Saika isn’t overawed by the big names in the opposition ranks and is a crafty manipulator.
Probal Dutta, Bengal Women’s team’s coach, has something more to tell about the cricketer’s “fearless” attitude to Rev Sportz. “We always tried Saika with the new ball, in the powerplay. That is what Mumbai are doing now. In the first match, they didn’t bring her in the Powerplay, but in the third match she bowled in the first over. That is the strategy the Bengal team has taken with her in T20 matches. See, in the Powerplay, everybody wants to hit. Lots of matches, maybe in the first over or second over, she has been hit for three fours in a row or a couple of sixes. She has given the wicket on every occasion, in the following overs. So this is nothing new she is doing right now.
“She only focuses on her process, she is not bothered who is batting. And the main thing is that she is always on the money, she finishes the ball on the stumps, that is a very good quality of a left-arm spinner. She can manipulate her line and length, she has got that ability. Being a spinner, she has got a very good yorker ball, which she can bowl at her will. She is a safe catcher and a good batter down the order. She has got a good cricketing brain, she has a very good action, very clean and smooth,” he adds.
Around five years ago, it seemed as if Saika’s self belief had been snuffed out. Saika was wallowing through poor form, struggling to find a place in the Bengal side. At that stage, she decided to contact former Bengal left-arm spinner and the current bowling head of Bengal Women’s set-up, Shiv Sagar Singh. Initially, Shiv Sagar tried to understand the mental state of Saika and slowly she turned out to be the ideal protégé.
“She had played Under-19, 23 and Senior team for Bengal, she was dropped from the Bengal team in 2018. She took my number from somewhere and called me, ‘I’m Saika Ishaque, I’m a bowler and I’m struggling and dropped from the Bengal team, I don’t know what to do now, I’m very much confused’. Initially I asked, ‘What happened in the last three-four years? What is your background?’ She said, ‘I’m not able to bowl properly now, I’m not accurate enough’. She was not getting proper guidance. I saw that she has great talent. So I started working with her, the mental aspect. Everyday she used to come, slowly she started believing me. By 2021, she was again in the Bengal side.”
Saika had to unlearn a few of her old practice routines as her coach tried to ingrain the virtues of having a different mindset for each format. Shiv Sagar also asked her to train with male cricketers. The left-arm spinner had to learn the trade the hard way but her commitment to the cause never wavered. “Tweaked her action (and worked on her) pace, line and length. Before, she used to practice the same thing for every format. I used to give her 3-4 different targets – outside the off-stump, yorker, back of a length.
“So she can be in any situation and she can be a flexible bowler. If somebody is playing good on the off-side, she can bowl on the stumps, if somebody is batting good on the stumps (while facing deliveries bowled on the stumps), she can bowl outside the off-stump. She is practicing with the boys and doing well. I took her to some Ranji Trophy players’ nets, I asked them to hit and I asked her to stop them from hitting.”
Saika doesn’t just lift the side on the field with her skills but even off the field her cheerful nature has helped other members of the set-up. Probal narrates an evocative memory which gives evidence of Saika’s helpful nature. “If anybody is in trouble, even in the midnight at 2 AM, if any call goes to Saika, she has got a scooter, she will be the first person to visit and that has happened. Our team physio is not a local person, she actually hails from Delhi. One night she had some problem, her flight was very late when she came to Kolkata, she normally stays in Eden Gardens, she called Saika for some help. She went to her with food in the midnight, so she is a very helpful person.”
Probal has another interesting anecdote to share. Last year, Bengal slipped to a loss in the final of Women’s domestic T20 final to Railways. After the game, the players had to wade through the fine lines of pain and disappointment. At that juncture, it was Saika who decided to take up the mantle of motivating the side. “When we lost the final of Senior Women’s T20 to Railways, everybody was very down. I was confused, Deepti was playing, Richa also was playing, we had a very good side, but after we lost, she stood and gave a lovely speech. After she stood up and talked like that, everybody was back to their feet and hug each other.”
There is a school of thought that spinners tend to mature later and Saika doesn’t seem to be any different. The left-arm spinner is reaping the rewards for sticking to the simple day-to-day virtues of life – patience, honesty and perseverance. MI too are bearing the fruits for showing faith in Saika during the auction and in the tournament.