Deepti Sharma claims joint 2nd spot in latest ICC T20 Rankings

Indian women’s team all-rounder Deepti Sharma has climbed upwards in the latest ICC Women’s T2oI bowlers rankings and has claimed the joint 2nd spot alongside Pakistan national team spinner Sadia Iqbal. Deepti jumped from the 3rd spot to the 2nd following South African spinner Nonkululeko Mlaba’s performance in the ongoing T20I series against Australia which still has a game to go.

Deepti Sharma is currently gearing up to take part in the 2nd edition of the Women’s Premier League which kicks off from February 23rd onwards. She will be appearing for the UP Warriorz after being retained by the franchise before the player auction in November for the 2024 edition.

The UP Warriorz had finished 3rd in the points table last year and their qualification for the finale against Delhi Capitals Women was almost sealed before they lost to eventual champions Mumbai Indians Women in the sole semi-final clash by a huge margin of 72 runs.

Deepti Sharma had played a major role in the resurgence of the Warriorz after poor performances in the initial parts of the inaugural season. The North-Indian outfit had a mixed performance in the early days of the league, winning 2 and losing 2 in their first 4 matches.

They had a similar performance in the 2nd half of the season as they claimed 2 wins and lost 2 matches in their final 4 games. The UP Warriorz confirmed their berth for the play-off match against MI Women’s following a 5-wicket win against DC Women’s in their 8th and final league match.

This time around the UP-based outfit will be looking to take a step forward in reaching the finale. Their 2024 WPL campaign will start against Smriti Mandhana’s Royal Challengers Bangalore Women in what will be the 2nd fixture of WPL on February 24 at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru which will host all the matches in the 1st half of the season.

Last year, 2 stadiums in Maharashtra namely, the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai and the CCI Brabourne Stadium near Churchgate. This year post the Bengaluru phase, New Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium will host the matches for the 2nd phase including the play-off round as well as the final.

Deepti Sharma And Renuka Singh Climb In The Top 10 Of The Bowlers Ranking While The Former Also Retains 4th Spot In All-Rounders Rankings

Deepti Sharma and Sadia Iqbal are currently the joint 2nd best WT20I bowlers in the world as both of them have a rating of 718 respectively. Deepti’s teammate Renuka Thakur also reached a spot higher from 11th to 10th in the latest update with a rating of 701.

Deepti Sharma also held on to the 4th spot in the all-rounders rankings with a rating of 376. She had a very good calendar year of 2023 in the shortest format, scoring 106 runs and picking up 21 wickets in 19 games for the Women in Blue. She had also become the first Indian women’s bowler to register 100 WT20I wickets during the Women’s T2o World Cup.

In December 2023, Deepti became the first Indian bowler to register a 5-wicket haul against Australia in the second-longest format of the game. Overall, the 26-year-old has 1015 runs and 113 wickets in 104 WT20 outings.