Deepti Sharma, the 25-year-old Indian women’s cricketer was in the news after the 3rd ODI match between India and England in the recently concluded series for her ‘Mankad‘ dismissal of English batter Charlie Dean. While a certain section of cricket fans have attacked Sharma for apparently displaying an unsportsmanlike spirit, commentators were heard repeatedly saying during the match, which was also the farewell fixture for India legend Jhulan Goswami, that the two-time World Cup finalist was well within her rights to go for dismissal because it was within the “laws of the game”.

Who is Deepti Sharma?

Born on August 24, 1997 in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, Sharma is the youngest of seven siblings. The all-rounder’s mother’s name is Sushilaa Sharma. Her father, Bhagwan Sharma, worked for the Indian Railways. It was her brother, Sumit, who inspired Deepti to take up cricket at a young age.

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Rita Dey, a former Indian women’s cricket team batter, was impressed by the all-round abilities of a 15-year-old Sharma and decided to mentor her. Despite starting off as a medium pacer, Sharma later switched to spin bowling with the help of her coaches.

Sharma made her debut for India in an ICC Women’s Championship match against South Africa in Bengaluru in 2014. In 2017, the left-handed batter scripted history by recording a 320-run partnership with Poonam Raut, in which Sharma contributed 188 runs. The record still stands as the highest partnership in women’s ODI.

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The allrounder who currently plays for Bengal in domestic cricket and for the Sydney Thunder in the Women’s Big Bash League, featured in the India squad for the 2017 and 2022 Women’s Cricket World Cup, the 2018 ICC Women’s World T20, and the 2020 T20 Women’s World Cup. She won silver as a part of the India squad in the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Sharma has played 80 ODI matches for India, scoring 1891 runs at an average of 36.36. She has taken 91 wickets in her ODI career. In T20Is, the Agra native has scored 643 runs in 69 matches at an average of 22.96. In the shortest format of the game, the allrounder has claimed 68 scalps with her best bowling figures being 4/10.