Southampton: Deepti Sharma showed enormous composure with an unbeaten half century that powered India to a comfortable four-wicket victory in the opening women’s ODI against England here.
The dress rehearsals for India’s 50-over World Cup started in earnest as a target of 259 was chased with 10 balls to spare, courtesy Deepti’s unbeaten 62 off 64 balls with three boundaries and a six.
Her 90-run fifth wicket stand in 14.2 overs with Jemimah Rodrigues (48 off 54 balls) proved to be the match-winning one.
All-rounder Amanjot Kaur (20 off 14 balls) provided the finishing touches with some meaty blows as the target was achieved with minimum fuss despite India being reduced to 124 for 4 after the fall of skipper Harmanpreet Kaur’s (17) wicket.
Deepti and Rodrigues took over and farmed the strike well as they kept the scoreboard ticking and also hit the occasional boundaries whenever loose deliveries were provided.
Deepti, whose slog over batting has always come in for a lot of flak, was brilliant in planning the chase.
The shot of the match certainly was her one-handed six off Lauren Bell over deep mid-wicket. She effortlessly picked a length ball from outside the off-stump and dispatched it over deep mid-wicket with her bottom hand coming off the handle.
Indian captain Harmanpreet was very happy with Deepti’s performance and also praised Rodrigues, who missed out on a half-century by two runs. “Happy with the way we bowled. Really happy with how we batted, especially Deepti. Her innings was key,” said the captain.
Deepti said: “Just in terms of preparation for the World Cup. I think as a team, we did some really good things in Sri Lanka and here also. World Cup is a little too far (away). “We are not thinking about that but definitely we are going one match at a time. That’s what we are thinking at the moment.”