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India's star player Deepti Sharma produced an impressive all-round show as she rescued the Indian women's team in a tricky chase for a four-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the first ODI on Friday (July 1).
In the company of Pooja Vastrakar (21 not out), Deepti (22 not out) guided the team home in 38 overs after being set an easy target of 172, in Harmanpreet Kaur's first match as full-time ODI captain.
Meanwhile, Indian women's team off-spinner feels skipper Harmanpreet Kaur's ability to "stay calm" at almost all times helps in her decision-making in the middle.
Asked about Harmanpreet's captaincy in the 50-over format, Deepti said, "She always stays cool, whether it's T20 or one-dayers. She is leading the team very well. Staying clam helps in taking better decisions, and we are enjoying her captaincy as a team." Harmanpreet took over the reins in the 50-over format after the recent retirement of long-time skipper Mithali Raj.
Cruising at 123 for three, India nearly made heavy weather of what seemed a comfortable run-chase of 172 after Harmanpreet departed for a well-made 44, slipping to 138 for six.
But Deepti (22 not out) and Pooja Vastrakar (21 not out) ensure India emerged winners with plenty of overs to spare.
This was after Deepti returned excellent figures of 3/25.
"We knew how the wicket was behaving, and we worked hard on partnerships. Our plan was to take 3-4 runs per over and we knew that we could build on a partnership that way and finish the game quickly," Deepti said at the post-match press conference.
Deepti has been pilloried a lot for her slow batting and the all-rounder feels that she has developed new strokes that will help her in the long run.
"I worked a lot on my batting and bowling both before the camp, also developed shots, and you all must have seen it here. My role remains the same, to finish games for the team, and the more I do that, the better it is for the team.
"We were losing wickets but my thought process was that I had to finish the game in the end. As a batting unit, we focussed on short partnerships and we achieved that in the game today.
