Saika Ishaque

Hailing from Kolkata, Saika Ishaque has put in the hard yards in the Indian domestic circuit over the years. She is a wily left-arm spinner who bowls in probing channels and is also a more than handy lower order batter. Ishaque made her debut for Bengal Women in 2013 and has played a pivotal role in the lineup since then. Her skills with the bat shone through when she played a match-winning 8-ball 14 cameo under testing circumstances in the quarter-finals of the Women’s Senior One Day Trophy.

Ishaque represented Bengal in the Women’s Senior T20 Trophy in October 2022. In the next month, she featured in the Women’s T20 Challenger Trophy, where she was part of the India A side. She first came into limelight while she was representing Bengal in a match against Punjab in the Senior Women’s T20 tournament. She dismissed Harmanpreet Kaur and Yastika Bhatia off successive deliveries to rise to prominence.

Ishaque was operating under the radar when Mumbai Indians acquired her services at her base price of 10 lakhs in the inaugural Women’s Premier League auction in February 2023. She rose to the occasion in the first WPL season with her probing left-arm spin bowling and finished as the second highest wicket-taker of the tournament. It was a heart-warming story as WPL produced a local talent who was quite unheard of before. By the end of the year, Ishaque earned an India cap. Ishaque has represented India in WODIs and WT20Is. Ishaque was retained by Mumbai Indians for the second and third editions of WPL as well.