Indian cricketer Deepti Sharma achieved a great feat in the history of one-day cricket for India. The all-rounder became the eighth Indian to pick a fifer against Australia in 50-over cricket, joining the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Mohammed Shami and Yuzvendra Chahal.

Deepti Sharma achieved the feat in the recently concluded second WODI against Australia. The second match of the series between the teams took place at the iconic Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Although India lost the game, the all-rounder was the shining light for the team.

India came onto the field first and had a decent performance with the ball thereafter. One of the key architects behind this was none other than Deepti Sharma. The all-rounder spun a net around the Australian batsmen and worried them a lot.

Deepti Sharma picked five wickets in her spell and broke the backbone of the Australian team. She didn’t let the opposition calm down and played sensationally well. Her spell put the visitors at a disadvantage and helped the Indian team carry the ball.

Deepti Sharma returned with figures of 5/38 in her quota of 10 overs and recorded the best bowling figures by an Indian in Women’s ODIs against Australia. She surpassed Nooshin al Khadeer, who scored 4/14 in 2006.

Deepti Sharma eliminated Ellyse Perry (50), Beth Mooney (10), Tahlia McGrath (24), Annabel Sutherland (23) and Georgia Wareham (22). Her amazing feats with the ball saw India Women restrict Australia Women to a total of 258/8. The Harmanpreet Kaur-led team, however, failed to chase the target and fell short by just 3 runs. They are now down 2-0 in the series.

With her five-wicket haul, Deepti Sharma joined the likes of Murali Kartik, Yuzvendra Chahal, Sachin Tendulkar and Mohammed Shami in taking five against Australia in ODis.

IND-W vs AUS-W: Harmanpreet Kaur talks about Deepti Sharma and others who dropped catches

India had a torrid day on the field. They left as many as seven catches, with Deepti Sharma, Harmanpreet Kaur, Amanjot Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Yastika Bhatia and Sneh Rana being the culprits.

Captain Harmanpreet Kaur spoke about the 3-run defeat that India women suffered in the second over. He also talked about missed catches and said they are an integral part of the game. She explained:

“I think we bowled well today, we planned to pick wickets. The game had many positive aspects, but in the end they took it away from us. We could have shown a little more awareness. Ghosh played a good role and now he is looking forward to the next match. They have a very long batting lineup, so restricting them below 300 was a positive.

I think (the dropped catches) are part of a game. “We have been playing in the heat and a lot of cricket so we need to recover, that is important.”

Deepti Sharma tried hard with the bat at the end but could not take her team beyond the finish line. With 16 runs needed in the last over, he kept his team in the game but could not lead them to victory.