Deepti Sharma: India’s Best Woman All-Rounder
In some earlier issues, I had worked out statistically to show why Ravindra Jadeja is India’s best all-rounder of all times. Any cricketer is considered to be an all-rounder if the batting average of the individual, when divided by the bowling average, gives a result of one or more. If Mithali Raj could be considered to be the Sachin Tendulkar of Indian cricket, it would be only proper to call Deepti Sharma as the Ravindra Jadeja of Indian cricket and perhaps a little more.
Born to Bhagwan Sharma and Sushila Sharma in Agra on 24 August 1997, Deepti’s initial inspiration for playing cricket came from her elder brother, Sumit, who was a local pace bowler. Like a few women cricketers in the current Indian cricket team, like Shefali Varma and Smriti Mandhana, Deepti started playing cricket along with the boys of her locality. In fact, when the teenager Deepti caught the eye of Hemlata Kala, a former Indian cricketer and then chairperson of BCCI’s selection committee for women, Kala thought that Deepti was a boy!
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Gp Capt Achchyut Kumar has been associated with The Teenager Today for more than 50 years as a reader and contributor on varied topics. Having worked in the Indian Air Force and with Forbes & Company Limited, he is now a lawyer in Nainital High Court.