Harmanpreet is cool and calm as captain: Deepti

‘We enjoyed playing under her’

Deepti Sharma is one of India’s most resourceful women cricketers. She may have made 188 – the highest score by an Indian in WODIs – opening the innings, but she is at home lower down the order, too.

On Friday at Pallekele, she saw through the chase for the Women in Blue with a responsible knock coming in at number six against Sri Lanka in the opening ODI. Her unbeaten 22 helped her side tide over the loss of three wickets in the middle-order in quick succession. Earlier, she had taken three for 25 with her off-spin.

She said she had worked on her batting ahead of the tour. “I developed some shots,” she said. “My role is to finish the job for the team. I just keep that in my mind.”

The match was India’s first ODI after Harmanpreet Kaur took over as captain from Mithali Raj. “She is calm and cool as a captain, which is good (for the team),” Deepti said. “We enjoyed playing under her, and she enjoyed her captaincy too.”

About losing the quick wickets, she said she was determined to see the team home. “While batting with Pooja, and Richa before that, we thought scoring four or five runs per over would ease the pressure,” she said.