Deepti Sharma, one of the star Indian all-rounders was picked up by the UP Warriorz franchise in the inaugural edition of the Women’s Premier League. She was announced as a deputy of skipper Alyssa Healy. She scored 90 runs at a strike rate of 83.33 and an average of 12.85 in eight innings in the inaugural edition of the WPL for the UP Warriorz.
The new franchise UP Warriorz led by skipper Alyssa Healy displayed an impressive performance in the inaugural edition of the Women’s Premier League. They managed to qualify for the eliminator stage where they eventually ended up on the losing side by a massive 72-run margin against the eventual champions Mumbai Indians.
Moving onto the 2nd edition of the WPL, they added a few new faces into the squad, the likes of Danielle Wyatt, Chamari Athapaththu, Poonam Khemnar, Gouher Sultana, Saima Thakor, etc were some of the new recruits added in the squad in WPL 2024 auctions. UP Warriorz got off to a poor start to their campaign with a couple of defeats in their first two games against RCB and Delhi Capitals. However, they managed to bounce back with back-to-back victories in their next couple of games against Mumbai Indians and Gujarat Giants.
Coming towards the last game of their campaign, they still had their fate somewhat in their hands, in terms of qualifying for the next stage. They needed a big win against Gujarat Giants to better their net run rate than RCB. They eventually failed to make it to the next stage courtesy of their eight-run defeat against Gujarat Giants. Later on, RCB winning their last game of the campaign closed the doors completely on them.
Their campaign in the 2nd edition of the Women’s Premier League has not panned out the way they would have ideally wanted to, considering their eliminator finish in the inaugural edition, they would’ve come in with a belief to go one step ahead to make it to the final and probably get their hands on their maiden WPL title, but it wasn’t just meant to be for them this time around.
Amidst all the chaos in certain departments, the vice-captain of UP Warriorz, Deepti Sharma was the one who looked most assured on almost every occasion where she got the opportunity to contribute with the bat. She is currently the leading run-scorer of the tournament with 295 runs to her name at an impressive strike rate of 136.57 and a humongous average of 98.33 in eight innings this season for the UP Warriorz. Her tally of runs includes three half-centuries. Her best performance with the bat for UP Warriorz in the ongoing 2nd edition of the tournament came in their last league game against the Gujarat Giants, when she scored an unbeaten 88 at an impressive strike of 146.66, almost taking her side over the line, in what could have been one of the best run chases in the history of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) so far.
Wanted to acknowledge the incredible knock from @Deepti_Sharma06 last night. Has certainly taken her batting to another level which is amazing to see. Nearly got us over the line. 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
— Lisa Sthalekar (@sthalekar93) March 12, 2024
“Before the season I had a thought to either wear the orange cap or the purple cap, because obviously when you are performing well and you try to do well in the WPL as well and when you do well for the team you eventually get those things. I wanted to do well as well as experience of wearing those caps. I didn’t change much in my batting, just a little bit of change in mindset, such as how many shot options I can explore to a delivery, that expands the range of scoring opportunities that’s it.” Deepti Sharma (UP Warriorz) speaks about a slight shift in mindset a key factor behind her improved show with the bat in the ongoing 2nd edition of the WPL.
She became the first Indian player to score three consecutive half-centuries in the history of the Women’s Premier League. Apart from her exploits with the bat, she also picked up 10 wickets with the ball at a strike rate of 18, with an economy of 7.23 and an average of 21.7 in eight innings. Her best performance with the ball came against Delhi Capitals on 8th March 2024 when she returned with brilliant match figures (4-0-19-4) in her match-winning spell for the UP Warriorz.
53* in 44 Balls
Deepti Sharma's form at WPL continues,
Becomes 1st Indian to score 3 consecutive 50s in WPL.#CricketTwitter #WPL2024 #UPWvGG pic.twitter.com/IJ12kAt5f3
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) March 11, 2024
She also became the first Indian player to pick a hat trick in the history of the Women’s Premier League. Her remarkable feat came against the Delhi Capitals on 8th March 2024.