India women’s all-rounder Deepti Sharma has credited Rishabh Pant for the addition of the new shot to her armoury. Sharma played a match-winning innings of 62* (64) with the help of three fours and a six to help India chase down 259 in the first ODI and go 1-0 up in the three-match series. During her innings, one shot caught everyone’s attention as she whacked Lauren Bell for a one-handed six over deep midwicket.
Following her Player of the Match performance, the southpaw revealed that she’s been practicing hard in the nets to bring new shots into her repertoire. She also revealed that India men’s wicketkeeper batter Rishabh Pant is the inspiration behind her one-handed six.
England Women vs India Women, 1st ODI: HIGHLIGHTS
“I was waiting for an opportunity like this. I wanted to build a partnership with Jemimah, score 5-6 runs an over consistently.(On her sweep shots) I have worked a lot on it early days, and it helps on this kind of track. (On the one-handed six) I play these shots in practice, I picked that up from Rishabh Pant. We have played in England before, we enjoy these conditions,” said Sharma in the post-match presentation.
Chasing 259, Sharma walked to the crease with India on 124/4 in 27.1 overs. She stitched a massive 90-run partnership with Jemimah Rodrigues (48 off 54) off just 86 balls for the fifth wicket. After their partnership ended, Richa Ghosh also departed quickly for 10 (12) but Sharma took it upon herself to guide India home and completed the chase in the penultimate over of the innings.
Earlier, Sharma also finished as the second-highest wicket-taker of the T20I series against England, scalping nine wickets from five innings at an average of 16.55 and played a pivotal role in the team’s 3-2 victory. She will be eager to continue her rich form in the remaining matches and help India clinch the series.
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