India women got off to a brilliant start to their Womenโs T20 World Cup 2026 campaign. The side took on Pakistan women at Edgbaston in Birmingham on June 14th, and the game saw India coming in to bat first and posting a total of 170 runs in the first innings of the game after a brilliant knock by Smriti Mandhana and contributions by Harmanpreet Kaur and Richa Ghosh.ย
However, it was the performance of star all-rounder Deepti Sharma that stood out for the team. While not being able to make an impact with the bat, Deepti went on to take five wickets in the second innings and conceded only 10 runs in her spell.ย
Doing so, Deepti Sharma became the highest-ever wicket-taker in WT20I cricket history. It is worth noting that her fifth wicket was Deeptiโs 166th wicket in WT20Is, which saw her surpass the tally of Thailandโs Thipatcha Putthawong, who has 165 wickets to her name.ย Her spell was crucial in the Indian team limiting Pakistan to a score of 106 runs and winning the game comfortably.ย
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Deepti Sharma won the Player of the Match award for her performance
For her brilliant spell of five wickets, Deepti Sharma was awarded the Player of the Match award. After the game, she took centre stage and gave her take on the showing. She expressed how grateful she is to the entire team and thanked God for her performance as well.ย
โI am very grateful. I like these kind of wickets, all credit goes to the team and I am very grateful, Hanuman Ji is great. I like ICC tournaments – I think, from there I started, so I like it. (What was the key to bowling on this surface today?) I think because it’s turning, so I am varied my pace in every ball and every over. That helped me a lot. Yeah, because it’s turning, so I just believed that I have to bowl a little bit slower in the air and just believing in myself and bowling in the right areas. That’s what I was doing,โ Deepti Sharma said after the game.ย
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