NAVI MUMBAI: It was the inaugural season of The Hundred. As many as five Indian players including Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana were part of it. Deepti Sharma also found a place in London Spirit, a side led by England captain Heather Knight. If this was one of the opportunities for Deepti to make her mark at the franchise league, for a 20-year-old Charlie Dean, it was a graduation after working hard in the domestic system. In Sharma, an uncapped Dean found a role model.
In that first season, Sharma took 10 wickets for the Spirit, and Dean followed it with six of her own. A lot has happened since then, but two years later, on a hot day in Navi Mumbai, Dean followed Sharma again. This time in the Test whites while playing against each other.
First, it was Sharma, who was introduced in the 26th over of the innings. By that time India was not in total command of the situation but they were in no mood to give England any breathing space. With three wickets on board and Natalie Sciver-Brunt looking like an immovable object, Harmanpreet Kaur asked Sharma to do what she is known for — breaking the partnership between Sciver-Brunt and Danielle Wyatt. Sharma took one ball to settle.
The second ball of her first-ever spell in the home conditions saw Wyatt walking back to the dugout with dejection. Sciver-Brunt and Amy Jones added seven runs in Sharma's second over but that was it. She didn't give away a single run after that and added four wickets to her name in just 21 balls.
From 108 for three before Sharma was introduced, England were bowled out for just 136. Sharma walked off the pitch, basking in the glory of her maiden five-wicket haul in the longest format. "I was waiting for my chance to bowl and when I did, I enjoyed myself. The wicket was helping the spinners a fair bit today (Friday). So I think it was a positive sign for us to draw more utility from the wicket and the turn we were getting. The idea was to bowl in the right areas. I enjoy Tests because you have time. You have time to make a comeback if things go wrong," Sharma told the media after the second day's play in Navi Mumbai.
While waiting for her chance to bowl and fielding at her usual place in the slips, Sharma got enough opportunity to plan her spell. And partnering with Sneh Rana, who took two wickets, including that of Sciver-Brunt made India's job easy.
"When I was at the slip, I was trying to see what the bowler could do and what we could add on to get wickets. I ended up doing that when I came on to bowl. Bowling partnerships are as important as batting partnerships. Because she (Rana) was bowling before me. So we were talking about the areas to bowl in and the flight we would get. And that communication was vital today for both of us," Sharma added.
With England winding up their innings early, Dean and England had a job cut out for them. The opening pair of Mandhana and Shafali Verma made the most of the new ball to put a partnership of 50 runs before Sophie Ecclestone finally gave visitors a breakthrough. Dean and Ecclestone, bowling in tandem, reduced India to 186 for six with the off-spinner taking four wickets. On a day where none of their batters other than the vice-captain stood up to the challenge, Dean's four wickets were the only bright spot for England. Sciver-Brunt was happy for the youngster playing in her first tour of India.
"Probably her lengths (made it difficult to face). Making the batters not sure whether to come forward or back. When you play spin well, I think making good decisions going forward or back and not getting caught in the crease. She bowled lengths that were difficult to read and she also attacked the stumps," she said in the media interaction.
This is not the first time Dean has followed Sharma in the bowling charts. The Indian all-rounder also had high praise for the English youngster who has grown through the ranks rapidly since making her international debut in 2021. "Charlie and I used to enjoy playing at London Spirit. She is a good bowler. She stuck to good lines and lengths and hence, she was successful today (Friday)," Sharma said.
For now, we don't know when these two sides will face each other in this format again, but for now, the two 'spirited' spinners have left their mark on this Test, no matter where the result goes from here.
Brief scores: India Women 1st innings 428 (Satheesh 69, Jemimah 68, Deepti 67; Bell 3/67, Ecclestone 3/91) & 186/6 2nd inns (Harmanpreet 44 batting, Shafali 33, Jemimah 27) vs England Women 1st innings 136 (Sciver-Brunt 59; Deepti 5/7).