Shikha Pandey has been plying her trade in the overseas leagues, showcasing her all-round prowess in recent times, making her Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) debut representing Brisbane Heat and for the Trinbago Knight Riders in the Women’s Caribbean Premier League (WCPL) this year.
The 35-year-old bowling all-rounder, Shikha Pandey, is currently out of the selector’s radar in recent times as far as the national set-up is concerned. She has picked up 43 wickets at an average of 26.16 and an economy of 6.49 in 56 innings with the ball for India in the T20I format so far. Apart from her exploits with the ball, she has also scored 208 runs in 28 innings with the bat for India in the T20I format.
Pandey recently signed up with the Canterbury Magicians led by skipper Laura Hughes for the ongoing 2024-25 edition of the Women’s Super Smash, a domestic T20 over tournament in New Zealand. The Magicians kickstarted their campaign in the tournament against Otago Sparks led by skipper Hayley Jensen. The debutant Shikha Pandey joined Natalie Cox at the crease when her side was in deep trouble at 30/5 in the 8th over of the innings after the opposition skipper Hayley Jensen won the toss and inserted the Magicians to bat first.
Pandey bailed her side out of trouble with crucial partnerships – a 59-run partnership with Natalie Cox for the 6th wicket followed by another crucial 48-run partnership between her and Melissa Banks – helping the Magicians get closer to the 140-run mark. She notched up her maiden half-century (63 off 48 balls) on her Super Smash debut, before she was picked up by Kirstie Gordon on the penultimate ball of the innings. Her knock included 9 boundaries.
After her heroics with the bat, she played an instrumental role with the ball returning with brilliant bowling figures of 4-0-17-2, including the wickets of Felicity Leydon-Davis, and the opposition skipper Hayley Jensen in her spell. Melissa Banks (4-0-19-2), and Madeline Penna (4-0-21-1) were the other stand-out performers with the ball for Canterbury Magicians as they started their campaign on a high with a convincing 12-run victory against the Sparks.
Loves all things female cricket
