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Follow Us“Oh no, Deepti Sharma, how can you drop this? I would normally bet my house on Deepti but this occasion has gone terribly wrong.”
Just a week ago, Deepti Sharma dropped an absolute dolly, denying Sophie Ecclestone a crucial wicket of Phoebe Litchfield in the clash against Gujarat Giants. It was easy as it gets, and then it just went down. That was enough for the internet to go gala.
Notable journalists, experts, not to mention cricket lovers took to their respective platforms to criticise the Indian all-rounder. They went, “Can’t bat, can’t bowl, can’t field, India’s premier all-rounder, what a joke.”
Deepti was criticised, but more damningly, she was mocked and ridiculed.
It wasn’t the first time, either. Deepti has been highly criticised throughout her career in the Indian colours, either for her strike-rate, or for her inability to turn games around for the national team.
Somewhere in the middle of last Women’s Premier League (WPL) season, Deepti realised that her batting wasn’t as she aspired it to be. It was almost like she wanted to do well but something was stopping her from achieving her potential. Consistently, her strike-rate was wandering lost, teetering in the late 80s and early 90s.
The off-season couldn’t have come at a better time.
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“I have worked previously and continue working hard on my power-hitting. I love the role of a finisher, that’s something that I enjoy doing. I know the situation, so that I can prepare myself according to the situation,” Deepti Sharma told Cricket.com prior to the start of the season.
It wasn’t fluff. An interview fun until then had suddenly turned serious. That’s always the case when a player is questioned. But Deepti was genuine in her assessment. While agreeing that her form wasn’t the best last year, she said to watch out this year.
One of the vital aspects of Deepti’s batting has always been playing a crunching sweep shot against spin. It doesn’t matter how and where the ball is turning; the batting broom is always around the corner to be whipped.
It is her release shot. But when she played the late dab and cut against Mumbai Indians in her unbeaten 27, she was ready. That’s where her game awareness came to the fore. It seemed like Deepti was ready to forego her favourite shot if other options existed. If it was the cut against Mumbai, it was the slog against Royal Challengers Bangalore down the ground.
“I have worked previously and continue working hard on my power-hitting. I love the role of a finisher, that’s something that I enjoy doing. I know the situation, so that I can prepare myself according to the situation,” she also said in the interview.
Against Bangalore, Deepti exactly showed that there were more tools in the shed, and her strike-rate drastically improved over the encounter. She showed her entire range, from stepping down to finding gaps through the off-side.
When you thought it couldn’t get any better, the left-hander stoked her batting desires. Since the start of the clash against RCB earlier this month, she has scored 145 runs in just 106 deliveries. 86 of those runs have come against spin, and against the tweakers she has registered a strike-rate of 162.3.
It isn’t just that she hits spinners for fun; it is the fact that she has an extremely low dot-ball percentage (17%), which means that she is a busy customer. If she isn’t hitting boundaries, she is finding the gaps; if she isn’t, she is happy to rotate the strike.
(Deepti Sharma's interception point vs spin in the last three games)
The part of her using the feet is also an evident trait, with the dance down the wicket fetching her 29 runs off just 13 balls. Her strike rate in the RCB clash was 133.3 but her overall strike-rate in the next two innings in Delhi has jumped to 150, where she has made a sincere effort to tonk the ball.
That’s where the consistency has also come by, with twin half-centuries in the last two clashes when all of the other batters have found it hard. Today (March 8) was another match where there was a prime opportunity for Deepti, who walked in at No.3.
At 10/1, there was a lot of pressure, but she absorbed it and later put it back on the Delhi bowlers, who were forced to rethink their bowling plans. In an innings where 138 was scored, Deepti herself scored 59 off 48 deliveries, bailing UP out big time.
Deepti hasn’t just turned her fortunes around but, in doing so, has also given a stern warning to all the critics and the trolls.
She’s not just police in real life, she’s also policing on Twitter, noticing all of your criticism.
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“Cricket is a funny game,” Meg Lanning pointed out at the post-match presentation.
Cricket couldn’t have gotten funnier for Deepti, who only a week ago was ridiculed for her 3D prowess. It wasn’t just her batting that stepped up when it mattered for the time; it was her bowling that ultimately turned the tide around in the Warriorz’ favour.
At 93/3, with Lanning on 60 off 45, Delhi were already in a dream world where they would have one foot into the final on the back of a first-place finish. That’s exactly when Deepti came as a thorn for Delhi’s opportunity.
It was that exact moment when Warriorz sensed that there could be a back-door entry here. It's not a new thing for the UP franchise, who have made a habit of it.
15 runs off 12 deliveries, with six wickets remaining.
Delhi were not just comfortable; they were tucked neatly into their comforters, hoping for an early finish and a good night’s sleep. Deepti, though, was the nightmare.
The off-spinner scalped Annabel Sutherland's wicket to kick off things. She then lured Arundhati Reddy into going big over the cow corner, only to give Grace Harris the easiest of catches. Deepti entered the record books with that, and, remarkably, she had no idea that she'd created history.
“No, I didn’t know. I always stay ready for a caught and bowled,” she was caught off guard in the post-match presentation.
She became the first Indian to pick up a hat trick in WPL history. Only the second bowler to pick up a hat trick in the competition after Issy Wong. Her last three deliveries didn’t just read WWW, and it also was a catalyst for the Warriorz’ comeback.
Two deliveries later, Deepti struck again, now to remove Shikha Pandey, with an over that will go down in history if UP make a turnaround in this competition.
W, W, 4, W, 1, 0, and it was what allowed Warriorz to believe and ultimately pull off a nail-biting win over the Delhi Capitals by one run.
Never has the competition witnessed such a thing. Never will it have someone like Deepti Sharma in the future.
“Will bat, will bowl, will field and win games, India’s premier all-rounder, Deepti Sharma, quite a joke.”
