It was exactly four years ago and thus, a bit back in the day.
Doing simple schoolboy math suggests, it was nearly half a decade back in time.
A period of time where, speaking of cricket, most of the world was, as has often been the case, obsessed with the men’s game. And that’s over as above women’s cricket that particular year.
The reason? The 2019 ODI men’s World Cup was that very year. But far away from the glowing headlines and the much-anticipated fanfare, the West Indies women’s team were in Pakistan, that part of the world where the ball not often comes nicely to the bat and where it turns more often than not.
That part of the world that is cricket crazed and has given us all timeless legends such as Sana Mir, Saeed Anwar, Nida Dar, Nain Abidi, Wasim Akram, Hanif Mohammad and many more.
There were three T20I’s scheduled before the one day leg of the series. And quite frankly, one couldn’t be doubted for focusing, as per normal, on names like Nida Dar and Sana Mir on the one hand and the likes of Anisa Mohammed and Deandra Dottin on the other.
But with one game down to the West Indies and another ending in an exasperating tie, the contest scheduled on February 3, 2019 was expected to be a nail-biter.
And it was in the end; except things didn’t go according to the plan for the visitors from the Caribbean islands. Pakistan took the game and went on to record a 1-1 series result in the end.
But from the West Indies stable, there was one force, in particular, that didn’t take long to impress. She turned heads without much ado akin to the loopy turn and flight that her customary off break bowling carries.
When most of the world was perhaps unaware of the sheer significance of that contest to a young up-and-coming presence from Trinidad and Tobago, Karishma Ramharack, unswayed by who was talking what and completely unflustered, left an impact.
Despite her beloved Windies women ending up on the wrong side of the result, she sided with grit and determination to register precious figures upon her T20I debut.
At first, she surprised by sheer flight and twirl someone as accomplished like Omaima Sohail; the daring Pakistan batter finding herself stumped with Windies cricket legend Aguilleira doing the needful from behind the stumps.
Omaima’s wicket was actually a big one in that she was responsible for the second most number of runs scored that day by a batter in her team. But not very long after, the dangerous customer with the bat in the lower-middle order, Iram Javed, found herself dismissed in an identical fashion to the big run maker Omaima Sohail.
Tossed up and catching a bit of turn off the surface, the Southend Club Cricket stadium at Karachi had a pitch that had been seemingly perfectly diagnosed by a rookie in West Indian jersey who neither played under pressure nor backed away from giving her best to her team’s cause.
Arguably speaking, Karishma Ramharack was the owner of quite possibly the most under appreciated fact from that very match.
Of the several who bowled in that captivating Karachi thriller, where Windies fell short by just 12 runs, the only person to bowl a maiden was Karishma Ramharack.
Not only that; the bright and sparkly right arm off break bowler returned economical figures in just her maiden game. An economy that’s just above 6 in a format of the game whose core essence is of power hitting and big mauling, was the central theme to Karishma Ramharack’s mode of operation in the game.
But in here is the most interesting part, of many, about the bowler from the breezy Caribbean island of Trinidad and Tobago.
Despite playing several T20I’s from that time in 2019, and not to forget, a few one dayers as well, Karishma Ramharack’s prime custodians in cricket are her disciplined way of bowling and the ability to keep the run flow under check.
As they say, somethings never change- do they?
Surely, Karishma Ramharack’s economy rates, whether in T20I’s or One dayers, haven’t ballooned numerically speaking; they seem to suggest that behind their shiny brilliance is a thinking cricketer who doesn’t believe in succumbing to pressure.
While her T20I bowling economy is just around 6.5, which is such a feat for someone already done with 25 games to her name, in one dayers she seems to be doing even better.
What else would you say to someone who bowls with accuracy and control to record an economy rate, at present, of 4.2?
Though quite frankly, what has changed and is worth noting beyond the ebb of stats is that the Karishma Ramharack that had arrived in the Windies women’s stable back then is amid a bit of a different team set up and overall architecture given what’s currently evident.
In fact, a lot has changed. Stefanie Taylor, their greatest all round cricketer, sadly and rather drastically doesn’t feature in every single series.
Deandra Dottin, forget not, more than a handy medium pacer in addition to being a batter par excellence, is a “former” cricketer. And when that wasn’t all to indicate massive change on the Windies women’s horizon, a few hours back, both Shakera Selman and Anisa Mohammed, two of their redoubtable greats, called time on their international journey.
While this is an irrefutable loss that measures more in its emotional value than merely the tonnage of wickets the team’s giants represented, one can’t be glad that all’s not over.
On the contrary, the fan, not the fanboy or rabble rousing observer, couldn’t be gladder to note that, at least, Karishma Ramharack is still there.
Having just turned 29, the responsibility on the spinner’s shoulders today is immense and asks of nothing but the very value which she avidly represents: full commitment to the Windies cause whenever given a chance.
For someone who has already bowled to several key or noted figures in the contemporary firmament of women’s cricket, Karishma would already know a thing or two about how to keep going and delivering for a team that’s often reviled for its inconsistency.
But there’s a massively bright spark and hence, incalculable volumes of optimism in the way new leader Hayley Matthews is leading the team’s resurgence. The task is heavy. Gladly, Taylor and the likes are around and now, in a non leadership role hence, sans that bit of added responsibility.
But nothing can be left to chance or to happen on its own in this post-Brittany Cooper, Dottin, Anisha and Selman era. Support is needed from the other end by someone like Chinelle Henry and Shamilia Connell, the latter just a wicket away from her fiftieth in T20I’s.
If you think about it, with Karishma Ramharack added to the lot of three potent bowlers as named above, the team already boasts of an impressive quartet; Matthews’ impressive off spin does carry charm and affect breakthroughs when needed by the Windies.
But realistically speaking, now is Karishma’s time to really ace it and lift her game, which she truly can, to an higher level of performance plane.
For someone who doesn’t chase personal milestones but team’s goals on the 22 yards, what a brilliant feeling it might have been in being named in the ICC Women’s T20I team of 2023?
But as Jim Morrison of the great The Doors band once said, there are things known, there are things unknown and in between are the Doors, in a cricketing lingo, it might not be unfair to say the following- there’ll be games that Windies will win and some they’ll lose but things will seem bright and hopeful for as long as Karishma Ramharack stands with a ball in hand in the middle.
Keep bowling. Keep stumbling your opponents, Karishma. Happy birthday.
note– image source (Ms Ramharack’s Instagram)
