Deepti Sharma is undoubtedly one of those unsung sheroes from the Indian cricket that have gone unnoticed in the glitter of other cricketing superstars. While most of the Indian cricket fans know about Smriti Mandhana and Harman Preet kaur, the contribution of Deepti Sharma to Indian women cricket is something that needs a big mention.
Deepti Sharma- Early life and Background
Deepti Sharma hails from the famous city in Uttar Pradesh named as Saharanpur. With seven siblings other than her, her family did find it quite hard initially to make their ends meet. Moreover, his father Bhagwan Sharma used to work as a booking supervisor in the Indian railways.
Not many people know but Deepti sharma’s brother Sumit Sharma played for Uttar Pradesh in the coveted CK Naidu Trophy. Besides, this came as a big motivation for Deepti and she asked her father to let her accompany her brother during his net sessions.
While deepti accompanied Sumit in one of his net practice sessions, she came under the radar of famous Indian women cricketer Hemlata Kala. Just as Sumit was practicing , the ball accidently kept rolling towards deepti Sharma.
She picked and threw the ball towards Sumit and to everyone’s surprise, the ball hit the stumps on its way through. Hemlata kala was paying attention to this incident and asked about that little boy( Deepti Sharma).
Deepti’s Brother Sumit Sharma then pointed out that it’s hi sister Deepti sharma and not a boy. Upon knowing this, Hemlata kala said,” Let that girl play too, she will represent India one day’. Well, the rest is history.
Putting her first steps into the Cricketing Arena !
Soon after, Deepti began formal training with her brother Sumit Sharma. However, according to her brother, she hardly needed any instruction in the fundamentals of the game. Deepti is a right hander naturally, but on her own, without any assistance from him, “she settled into a left-grip”. Even when bowling, she seemed to naturally prefer a medium pace”.
After beginning as a medium-pacer, Deepti switched to off-spin and participated in the state U-19 team trials for the following two years, but she was rejected both times given her young age.
Deepti was then taken under Hemlata’s wing, though. In the Railways camp, Deepti Sharma got to play few games during the random intra-sqaud matches. Well, it was just a matter of time and Deepti achieved success in 2010 by scoring 65 runs and taking three wickets while trying out for the U19 Uttar Pradesh team.
Making an entry into the Indian domestic cricket !
Deepti worked extremely hard in the following two years to play well for the U 19 UP team. But in Kanpur, a 114 score against the Vidharbha women gave her the opportunity to join the senior squad. It didn’t take her much time and she secured a spot in the senior team at the age of just 15 thanks to the assistance of the then-UPCA co-selector.
In addition to Deepti’s prolific returns with the bat and ball, Rita Dey, ( BCCI national selector (central) and the UPCA chairperson of the women’s selection committee during that period) claims that “the young girl’s boundless enthusiasm for the game” strengthened her case for a spot in the senior team.
Deepti Sharma then earned a well-deserved spot for India A thanks to her strong domestic seasons with the Uttar Pradesh. 2014 saw Deepti score 53 not-out for India A, earning her first call-up to the national team.
Moreover, Deepti won the Best Women Cricketer award in 2015–16 thanks to her outstanding performances (Junior). She made the decision to forego the award presentation in order to play with Mithali Raj, her idol.
Debuting in the International Cricket !
In Bengaluru, Deepti Sharma played her first ODI match against South Africa in 2014. The ICC Women’s Championship game didn’t come as expected for the young deepti Sharma.
She entered the game as the No. 3 and was run out by T Chetty scored just one run. In the second innings, however, a 17-year-old Sharma spoke with her ball. Nadine Moodley and Mignon Preez, the team’s captains, had formed a strong partnership and had each scored 46 and 54 runs before falling to deepti’s quick turners.
Even though India lost the game by four wickets, the youngster made a strong statement by dismissing two experienced batters. She finished with a figure of 2/35, capping off a strong debut. Well, that’s not it as this kick started her journey of a key allrounder for the Indian cricket team.
She became the youngest Indian women’s cricketer to reach the 5-wicket threshold when she took 6 wickets for 20 runs against Sri Lanka in her very first one-day international. Moreover, Deepti Sharma achieved her first fifty in February 2017.
In the first Women’s World Cup Qualifier game, Deepti began the innings with Mona Meshram and went on to score 54 runs in 96 balls as India defeated Sri Lanka by an enormous 114 runs. She scored 89 against Ireland in the following game before scoring 29* against Pakistan and 71 against South Africa.
Sharma had the most runs scored in the competition with 253 in 6 games. She only managed to take four wickets with the ball. Deepti, however, bowled 12 debut overs with a remarkable economy rate of 2.67.
Securing a WPL contract with the UP Warriorz !
Just like other women cricketers, bagging a WPL contract came as a ‘dream come true’ for even Deepti Sharma. Surprisingly, she bagged the contract with UP Warriorz for a whopping 2.60 crore in the WPL auction 2023.
As per latest news, Deepti sharma has also been named as the vice captain of the UP Warriorz team. So, we can say that good days are on roll for not only Deepti Sharma, but the entire women cricket realm.
Unknown facts about Deepti Sharma
- Suresh Raina , the former Indian cricketer is the idol of Deepti Sharma. You can see her imitating the famous inside out lofted shot of Raina in most of her matches.
- Deepti Sharma loves Madhuri dixit as her favorite actor. Besides, she likes to listen to Arijit songs quite often.
- Deepti Sharma is one of the only Indian women cricketers to play from two states ( Uttar pradesh and Bengal) in the domestic cricket
- She is the youngest siblings among the other 7 in her family that hails from Saharnapur
- Deepti likes to travel and enjoy Indian food whenever free from her cricketing commitments
Bottom-line
Deepti sharma, along with other key Indian women players, will be the player to watch out for in the upcoming WPL 2023. Stay tuned as we bring you all the recent updates right here !
