Inspired by Narine, Ramharack goes from being sidekick to hero

When Anisa Mohammed retired this January as only one of five women with over 300 international wickets, it was a bittersweet moment for Karishma Ramharack.

Ever since she had come up the ranks in Trinidad & Tobago, Ramharack was always spoken of as Anisa's partner-in-crime. And when she graduated to the West Indies side in 2019, that association as a bowling pair became well known globally.

Ramharack has used that as a badge of honour instead of feeling aggrieved that she has never been able to carve an identity of her own. On Thursday in Sharjah against Bangladesh, Ramharack was no longer under an umbrella. Given the free license to run wild, she went from being a sidekick to a hero.

Ramharack's deceptive offspin - attributes borrowed from Anisa and Sunil Narine, two people she heard a lot about growing up - brought her 4 for 17, her second-best figures in T20Is. It helped apply the brakes on Bangladesh, while also giving West Indies a massive net run rate push; they now top the table with one game left against England.

Ramharack came on in the fourth over and struck straightaway to dismiss opener Shathi Rani by deceiving her in flight to have her stumped. In her next over, having seen batters looking to step out, she had the aggressive Dilara Akter bowled with a quicker delivery fired in.

With two quick wickets in the bag, Hayley Matthews turned to their other spinner, young Ashmini Munisar, to try and slip in a few quiet overs. But when Ramharack was reintroduced in the 13th, it felt like Matthews was going for her safety net with Nigar Sultana and Sobhana Mostary having put together a quickfire 40-run stand.

Having teased Nigar with loop and frustrated Mostary with a carromball that seemingly had her second-guessing, Ramharack had the last laugh when Mostary was stumped looking to step out. This was a body blow Bangladesh didn't recover from.

It allowed Munisar and Afy Fletcher, the other members of what has been a spin-heavy attack this tournament, come into their own without having to contend with the pressures of bowling to two set batters.

"Yeah, I think she's obviously someone who has been around for a little while now, but she's been able to really come into her own I think in the last two years, making the [ICC] team in the tournament last year and then being able to have performances like these," Mathews said. "I think she's improved all around.

"I think her control and attitude towards bowling has definitely been something that I've seen shift. So yeah, I think it's been great to have her and not just playing in the line-up but going out there and really wanting to play a massive role within the team and she's done that today."

Ramharack wasn't always a bowler. She was quite a star in softball cricket, swatting cricket balls cross-batted for fun, until her primary school teacher decided Ramharack would be a handful in hard-ball cricket too. It turns out Ramharack was, but with the ball; she would release it front-on, palm facing the batter and getting the ball to turn both ways.

It's then that word spread that Ramharack could do something similar to what another young spinner who would make a beeline for batters at the Queen's Park Oval. That youngster happened to be Narine, who had made waves for T&T Red Steel in 2008, around the same time Ramharack came into the Under-19s set-up locally.

Being talked of in the same league as Anisa brought Ramharack come into the consciousness of the wider women's cricketing circles in the Caribbean. The only hindrance was the absence of proper pathway structure. It meant she had to do more than the time she may have otherwise at the regional level.

Since much of her time was spent training on her own, Ramharack is self-taught. It wasn't under her debut in 2019 that she came under the High-Performance set-up. Since then, the improvements have been remarkable.

"I remember her coming into the team and she probably wasn't the most athletic person within the team, even when it just came to her fielding," Mathews said. "And even just the way she's come on in that aspect of her game, just putting in the hard yards every single training session, trying to improve and trying to get better. And I think that attitude shows out on the field. And I'm really glad for her and I'm really happy for her that she's now getting the results of the hard work."

Rahmarack's push towards being a regular received a massive leg-up in 2022 when Anisa took a six-month break from the game. It's during this time Rahmarack developed into someone who worked out things for herself. In a way, not having to bowl in tandem and having to do it herself opened her up to a world of new possibilities.

Thursday's performance was one of a fair few super hits she has delivered. Ramharack and West Indies will be hoping there is another one reserved on Tuesday against England.