Indian women’s cricket team’s star all-rounder Deepti Sharma won the ICC Women’s Player of the Month award for December.
ICC Men’s Player of the Month
Deepti was nominated along with her teammate Jemimah Rodrigues and Zimbabwe’s 41-year-old spinner Precious Marange. The all-rounder beat the other 2 nominees to win her very 1st ICC Player of the Month award.
Deepti produced a stellar show with her all-round performance in the home series. In December, India hosted England and Australia for one-off Test matches, which was followed by a 3-match ODI and T20I series against Australia. Deepti’s contributions were crucial throughout, both with the bat and the ball.
In the 347-run victory against England in December, Deepti contributed with a crucial 67 runs in the 1st innings. She followed it up with a five-wicket haul with figures of 5/7 against England.
Deepti’s exceptional spin bowling helped her claim an additional 4/32 to finish off with impressive match figures of 9/39. It remains as the 2nd best performance by an India women’s cricketer in the format, after legendary Jhulan Goswami’s 10-wicket haul against England. Her all-round excellence propelled India to a dominant win in their comeback in whites after 2 years.
Deepti yet again shone with the bat in India’s historic Test win against Australia. She scored 73 runs from 121 deliveries to power India to a huge total of 406 runs. India registered their 1st ever win against Australia in Tests as they beat the visitors by 8 wickets.
India lost the ODI and T20I series against Australia 3-0 and 2-1 respectively, but Deepti’s performance was standout throughout. In the 2nd ODI match, Deepti picked up the 2nd five-wicket haul of her career as she finished off with match figures of 5 for 38 runs.
She became the first Indian woman bowler to claim a five-wicket haul against Australia in ODIs. In the 2nd T20I match, she achieved a historic feat by becoming the 1st Indian women’s cricketer to score 1000 runs and pick 100 wickets in T20Is.
In an official statement, Deepti expressed gratitude for being honoured with the prestigious award.
“It’s an honour to be voted the ICC Women’s Player of the Month for December. I feel very good about my game at the moment, and I’m glad that reflected in my performances for India last month against strong opponents. I’ll continue to work hard so that I can have more moments like this in the future,” Deepti said.
