Deepti Sharma has made a fine start to her campaign in the Women's T20 World Cup 2026. She has played handy cameos and taken important wickets through the middle overs in the two games India have played.
After bagging a five-for in India's opening game against arch-rivals Pakistan at Edgbaston, Birmingham, the spin-bowling all-rounder created history on Wednesday, June 17, against the Netherlands at Headingley, Leeds.
Deepti dismissed Phebe Molkenboer in the eighth over on Wednesday and tied with compatriot
and former pacer Jhulan Goswami for most wickets in women's international cricket.
Now, both Jhulan and Deepti are tied with 355 wickets at the international level each, followed by England's Katherine Sciver-Brunt (335), Australia legend Ellyse Perry (332), England spinner Sophie Ecclestone (327) and South Africa pacer Shabnim Ismail (318).
With 166 wickets in 124 matches, Deepti is India's second-highest ODI wicket-taker next to Jhulan (255). In T20Is, Deepti is exclusively holding the top spot, having taken 167 wickets in 146 matches globally. She also has 22 wickets in six Tests for India.
In the game against the Netherlands, India were invited to bat first, and the opening pair of Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma smashed exhilarating half-centuries to put the Women's ODI World Cup champions in a position of strength. Yastika Bhatia, Richa Ghosh, and Deepti played enterprising cameos to take India's total beyond the 200-run mark. The Dutch side was set a daunting target of 210.
Apart from the top four batters in the Netherlands' batting order, no one else got to double figures. Skipper Babette de Leede was the top-scorer, but her 28-run knock came off 27 balls. For India, Shree Charani starred with a four-for. Shafali also chipped in with three wickets. Nandni Sharma, making her Women's T20 World Cup debut, took two wickets. However, the Asian giants suffered a setback when Shreyanka Patil had to be stretchered off the field after sustaining a leg injury while fielding.
