The team India is running riot against England and England and no doubt Deepti Sharma has a big role to play in this. After winning the T20 series by 2-1, India now claimed victory in the 1st ODI of the series as well.
Deepti played an unbeaten knock in the 1st Odi of the ongoing series making sure India remains all ready for the upcoming World Cup. Although Deepti is famous for her bowling, which easily ensures her place in the playing XI, it’s her batting that has been subject of debate, not over her ability but her approach.
Deepti has a respectable strike rate of 67.91 over 92 ODI innings. Even though she has been playing for her country for almost 10 years, there is a general feeling that she hasn’t yet reached her full potential as a batswoman, since she typically bats in the lower middle order.
Although her strike rate since the beginning of 2022 has been 77.74, she is still in the bottom half (35th) of the 57 batters who have amassed at least 500 ODI runs during this time.
For this reason, when she was elevated to No. 6 in the opening ODI against England on Wednesday in Southampton, ahead of Richa Ghosh and Amanjot Kaur, there were questions.
But the promotion did not go in vain as Sharma scored unbeaten 64-ball 62, forging crucial partnerships with Jemimah Rodrigues (48 off 54) and Amanjot (20* off 14) to help seal a four-wicket win with 10 balls to spare.
“Whatever matches I’ve played, I’ve batted in similar situations,” Deepti said at the post-match press conference. “I knew the calmer I am, composed I am… that was the turning point. The focus was on building a partnership with Jemimah. I knew if we worked on the partnership, we could take the game close.”
Together with Rodrigues, Deepti turned the strike and continued to pump runs, scoring 90 for the fifth wicket off 86 balls. Before her 32nd ball, when she gave Lauren Bell the charge and hammered a six over deep midwicket, Deepti had only hit two boundaries. However, she had struck 29 off her first 31 deliveries while playing mainly risk-free cricket.
“I was not nervous because I’ve played in these kinds of situations earlier,” Deepti said. “I knew if I play till the end with Jemi, we can take the game deep. I was confident that if I was there till the end, I could finish the game. I was focusing on that. If Jemi hadn’t got out we could’ve finished the game earlier. After that, Richa and Aman played well, finishing the game with two boundaries. Credit to her.”
Now India has a greater chance to win the ongoing ODI series and build the momentum for the forthcoming ODI World Cup. India have now won 4th consecutive ODI in England if we pair this win with their 3-0 sweep in 2022.
“As a team we’ve done some really good things, in Sri Lanka [where India won the tri-series in April] and here also. The World Cup is a little too far. We’re not thinking about that. We’re just thinking one match at a time.”
