WPL 2024: Arrival of Deepti Sharma - The T20 Allrounder

With the kind of form Delhi Capitals are in, if you told them on Friday they won’t chase down the required 15 runs from their last two overs with six wickets in hand, they would, perhaps, have laughed it off.

But on Friday night at the Arun Jaitley stadium, UP Warriorz allrounder Deepti Sharma had the last laugh.

Cricket, as they say, is a game of glorious uncertainties

And Deepti proved it through her memorable all-round show in a WPL 2024 clash between UPW and DC.

Deepti, the bowler

Chasing 139 against UPW, WPL 2024 table-toppers DC collapsed from 124/4 to 137-all out and it was largely thanks to Deepti the offspinner working her magic in the penultimate over of the night.

Deepti dislodged Annabel Sutherland and Arundhati Reddy with the first two deliveries of the 19th over to bring Warriorz back into the contest. The twin dismissals came after she had gotten rid of DC captain Meg Lanning with the last delivery of her previous over. She had completed a hat-trick, a fact that largely went unnoticed amidst the dramatic collapse.

That split hat-trick proved to be the game-changer. Deepti became the first player in WPL history to score a half-century and take a hat-trick in the same match.

With a three-wicket penultimate over, including Shikha Pandey’s wicket, Deepti left DC with 10 to win off the last over. The finishing touch came from Grace Harris, who successfully defended the total after having conceded eight off the first two deliveries.

Deepti, the batter

Deepti may have stunned DC and its home fans with her magical spell but it was her batting that pulled her team back into the contest long ago. With UPW losing wickets regularly, Deepti stepped in keep the innings from unravelling. It was her first time at number three in WPL 2024 – a position to which she was promoted to following a sparkling fifty in a losing cause against Mumbai Indians.

She played the first two games at no. 8, scoring 18 runs. UPW then promoted Kiran Navgire to the opening spot and Deepti to no. 5. Deepti responded with an unbeaten 27 off 20 against Mumbai Indians which was UPW’s first win of the season. In their next win, she chipped in with 17 not out against Gujarat Giants and played a bold knock of 33 in their loss against Royal Challengers Bangalore.

As the WPL shifted to Delhi for its second and final leg, Deepti found her mojo and scored a cracking maiden WPL half-century against MI.

Though UPW faced a humiliating 42-run defeat at the hands of MI, the only silverlining for them was Deepti’s batting. With that one ray of hope, UPW entered the next fixture against DC and slotted Deepti at no. 3 spot in place of Chamari Athapaththu who was benched .

She grabbed the opportunity with both the hands, and top-scored with 59 off 48, an innings that showed her versatility.

“When Chamari Athapaththu was out of our playing XI, she was promoted up and Deepti can easily work pace bowling at the back end and still develop that high strike rate,” UPW Grace Harris said of Deepti’s many promotions up the batting order.

“When you’re lower down the order, you’re able to bat [more freely] instead of holding back your wicket, as a batter would, higher up. Sometimes, just to help you get through that initial learning period of upping your strike rate, it’s healthier and easier to be listed lower down the order because you have fewer balls to face and have to get going almost immediately. When you come higher up the order, you feel like you kind of have to cement the innings and then go. But, Deepti has been fantastic at going and staying going.” Harris added.

That Deepti is a quality batter is a fact that the world was made aware of back in 2017 itself.

It was an ODI between India and Ireland in 2017 when Deepti, opening the innings, made a stunning 188 off 160 with 27 fours and two sixes. With Poonam Raut, who made 109 off 116, she was involved in a record-breaking 320-run partnership for the first wicket.

Interestingly in her T20 career, Deepti has played in every position from no. 3 to no. 9, with a majority of her runs coming at no. 5, 6 and 7 and perhaps, that was the reason why Warriorz stuck with her at the no. 6 and 7 spots during WPL 2023.

Deepti scored 90 runs last season and at a strike-rate of 83.3. This year, she has lifted her game and is now the leading run-scorer for the team, with 207 runs at a strike-rate in excess of 130.

Deepti, the allrounder

After the nail-biting finish, Harris heaped high praise on Deepti’s growth.

“Deepti has had a really good tournament so far, especially with the bat. She’s trying to step up and up the strike rate. We’ve been encouraging her to shift her mindset just a little bit in terms of her intent to score at the start of her innings. And I think she’s played much better than last year where she was a little bit reticent to taking risks. And in T20 cricket, you have to take calculated risks to score at the rate that is required, especially on small grounds with fast outfields,” Harris said.

“…The bit we’re trying to encourage her to develop is when the [asking] rate is a bit higher than run-a-ball, so she can start her innings at the pace of the game and take the game away from there. She definitely has the ability to do that, and I’ve seen quite an improvement on that front,” she added.

The improved strike rate and bowling performances are proof that work that the 26-year-old has put in. In the ongoing WPL, she is the joint highest wicket-taker (8) for her team along with Sophie Ecclestone. She is leading the team with both the bat and the ball.

It will be fair to say that Deepti the allrounder is just getting started.