Deepti Sharma was at her imperious best with the bowl in India's must-win clash against Australia in the second Women's One-Day International cricket match at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Saturday. The star all-rounder from Agra claimed a five-wicket haul to help India women restrict the world champions to 258/8. (Scorecard | More Cricket News)
After losing the first match by six wickets at the same venue, India needed a strong show to keep the three-match series alive against a side whom they defeated in the one-off Test, for their maiden win, earlier this month. And Sharma did her part, with the ball, before the chase began at one of world cricket's most iconic venues.
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Asked to bowl first by visiting captain Alyssa Healy, India women needed a Pooja Vastrakar beauty to break a dangerous-looking Aussie opening stand. The pacer castled Healy in the 10th over, and then Deepti Sharma took over, striking at regular intervals for his second ODI fifer. Her figures of 5/38 in 10 overs are the best so far by an Indian women bowler against Australia women.
Known for her never-die attitude, the 26-year-old also got the wickets of Beth Mooney, Tahlia McGrath, Annabel Sutherland and Georgia Wareham. After the innings, she said: "Whenever I would get my chance to bowl, I was always prepared. I back my strengths and try to hit the right areas. I bowled a bit slower today because the wicket was dry and helped spinners. All I had to do was bowl in the right areas. I believe we performed very well as a bowling unit."
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She, however, rued the missed chances. India dropped as many as seven catches, including one off her bowling. Sutherland was dropped in the 43rd over at mid-on by vice-captain Smriti Mandhana was returning to the playing Xi after missing the first match due to illness.
"Fielding wasn’t up to the mark but we’ll bounce back. We wish to take the game deep, we have depth in our batting so if we build partnerships then we should be able to chase it, added Sharma, who was taking the field for her 85th ODI match.
The previous best bowling figures by an Indian woman against Australia in the 50-overs format were 4/41(10) by Nooshin Al Khadeer in Adelaide (2006), while Ellyse Perry's 5/19 (8.1) in Mumbai (2012) are the best for the Aussies. Deepti Sharma, meanwhile, has 11 wickets against Australia in 10 matches.
In the first match, Australia completed the second-highest run chase in women’s cricket, hunting down a target of 283 runs. Before the start of the match, Australia led the head-head record 18-4 in 22 previous meetings.
