Deepti Sharma scripted history for the India Women‘s National Cricket Team. Tonight, against the Zimbabwe Women’s National Cricket Team, the Women in Blue were in trouble, losing multiple top- and middle-order batters. Harmanpreet Kaur was firm on the crease, but she needed support to take the team to a responsible total.
When Kaur and the entire Indian cricket team were in search of another batter to play a significant knock for the team, Deepti Sharma walked in the middle of the BCA Stadium in Kotambi, Vadodara.
Deepti Sharma writes history, scoring an ODI century vs Zimbabwe
As the No.6 batter of the Indian batting order, Deepti smashed a century, and crafted a hundred and fifty plus run partnership with Harmanpreet Kaur. Harmanpreet and Deepti’s 153-run stand is India Women’s highest partnership for the fifth wicket or lower in ODIs.
Harmanpreet Kaur was dismissed after scoring 126 runs, but Deepti Sharma remained unbeaten and claimed 106 runs off 86 balls. With the centuries of Harmanpreet and Deepti, and a half-century from Pratika Rawat, India women registered 328 in their innings. With the 106-run knock, Deepti became the first Indian woman to score an ODI hundred at No. 6 or lower. Additionally, it was one of the quicker ODI centuries for the Indian Women’s cricket team.
One of the fastest ODI centuries for the Indian women’s cricket team
The fastest ODI century for the Indian cricket team in this particular format belongs to Smriti Mandhana, for his 50-ball ton, which she scored against Australia in Delhi in 2025. In that same year, Mandhana bagged a 70-ball hundred and a 77-ball hundred as well. Tonight, Deepti took 83 balls to touch the hundred run mark.
Quickest ODI 100s for IND-W (by balls)
50 – Smriti Mandhana vs AUS, Delhi 2025
70 – Smriti Mandhana vs IRE, Rajkot, 2025
77 – Smriti Mandhana vs AUS, Mullanpur, 2025
82 – Harmanpreet Kaur vs ENG, Chester-le-Street, 2025
83 – Deepti Sharma vs ZIM, Vadodara, 2026*
Harmanpreet Kaur praises Deepti Sharma’s aggreesive batting against Zimbabwe
At the innings break, World Cup-winning former India captain Harmanpreet Kaur praised Deepti for her well-timed knock. Kaur told the broadcaster that after her partnership with Pratika, Deepti came on the pitch and spread magic. As Deepti was in all-attacking mode, Kaur took her time mostly to rotate the strike through running between the wickets.
Deepti Sharma’s innings was decorated with fifteen 4s, and after the end of the innings, her strike rate was 123.26. Kaur in her 121-ball knock, also hammered fifteen fours.
“After losing two wickets, Pratika and I had a very good partnership, and then Deepti did the magic on the pitch. When somebody just comes in and is getting boundaries, your job is to take singles and keep giving strike (talking about Deepti). Good to see that she was taking responsibility,ity and good to watch her from the other end. It wasn’t a true wicket,” Harmanpreet Kaur said about Deepti’s century against Zimbabwe tonight in Vadodara.
Source: cricketaddictor.com
