FEATURES
Follow UsIf you talk about the Indian women's cricket team, the first thought that rallies around the mind of most people is Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana or Shafali Verma.
While the three names are synonyms with the Women in Blue for their contribution to the game and their exploits donning the national jersey, one player is usually not given enough credit for her ability to switch into any role seamlessly, which lends balance to the side.
Deepti Sharma is not usually the name you do not associate with any flamboyance, but her availability in the playing XI of the side helps the Indian team iron out minor chinks in their armour.
Over the course of her eight-year-long international career, Deepti has been the glue to the Indian side and has defied the odds to become one of the match-winners for the team in recent times.
Despite enduring a lukewarm Women's Premier League according to her standard and the rapid growth of Shreyanka Patil in the Emerging Asia Cup, there was bound to be enormous pressure on Deepti as she set for the Bangladesh sojourn.
While she had a bare minimum contribution in the first game, the second outing was tailor-made for her to channelise her grit as India posted a mere 95 runs in the first innings.
With their back against the wall and their mighty record against the home team at stake, India stepped onto the field in pursuit of defending the low score.
And the Agra-born player did not disappoint as on the third ball of her opening over, and she scalped the prized wicket of Shahti Rani to dent the hosts early on a sluggish surface.
The off-spinner followed it up with the wickets of Nigar Sultana and Shorna Akhter to weave her magic in the game and finished with figures of 3 for 12 in four overs, including 13 dot deliveries to help India win by eight runs.
"I really enjoyed bowling on this track as it helped the spinners. My plan was really simple, and we held our nerves and bowled according to the situation. The plan was to bowl dot balls," she said in the post-match presentation.
This is not the first time Deepti has single-handedly helped India get back into the game with her ball, as the all-rounder has been her team's best bowler since the conclusion of the T20 World Cup Down Under.
In the 35 innings played thus far, Deepti has scalped 45 wickets at an average of 16.9 and conceded at an economy rate of six runs, which is commendable for someone who has bowled the majority of her overs in the powerplay or at the death.
With India opting to use Pooja Vastrakar in the middle overs with additional fielders to support her, Deepti is often seen opening the bowling alongside Renuka Singh Thakur.
She is the leading wicket-taker among bowlers from top 10 nations since the T20 World Cup in Australia, 2020 and one of the few players to also make stellar contributions with the bat down the order.
The southpaw has smashed 440 runs in 30 innings at an average of 31.42, which is the best among batters at number five or below with a minimum of 20 innings since the aforementioned time frame.
Since making her T20I debut against Australia in 2016, Deepti has batted at all the positions from number three to 11. There isn't any doubt that the left-hander has succeeded in the middle order as it allows her to rotate the strike and capitalise on the bad deliveries.
With the Women in Blue struggling to find an ideal finisher in the shortest format, Deepti can well and truly be considered, as her exploits have ensured that India cross the line on numerous occasions.
As the Indian team adopt a new-look batting order for the ongoing white-ball series, the team management and Harmanpreet Kaur ought to give Deepti a steady role as they head into a busy season.
It is fair to say she is the most underrated player in the women's set-up, and her tireless contribution to the sport should not go unnoticed.
