Sharma scored a half-century in the first innings and returned match figures of 9 for 39 as India cruised to a 347-run victory over England
Head coach Amol Muzumdar has labelled Deepti Sharma the "Ben Stokes of the team" following her all-round performance in India's 347-run Test victory over England.
Player of the match Sharma impressed with the bat, scoring 67 (113) at No.7 and sharing a 92-run seventh-wicket stand with Sneh Rana to help her side post a first-innings total of 428, before wreaking havoc with the ball.
Introduced into the attack in the 26th over, she removed Danni Wyatt with just her second delivery and went on to take 5 for 7 in 5.3 overs as England collapsed from 108 for 3 to 136 all out.
After scoring 20 runs in the second innings, she picked up 4 for 32 as England were bowled out for 131 inside the first session on day three, once again rattling through the middle and lower order.
Sharma took nine wickets across the match, including a first-innings five-for [ECB]
Sharma has been compared to England Test captain Ben Stokes [Gareth Copley/Getty Images]
"You are taking about Stokesy – I jokingly call her the Ben Stokes of the team," Muzumdar said.
"She is fantastic. The confidence she has shown in her batting and the confidence she has gained in these two innings – nine wickets in the Test match and a fifty.
"She is an important cog in the wheel when she comes [in to bat in the] lower order, bowls crucial overs, and gets wickets."
Deteriorating conditions aided the spinners on both sides, with the pitch turning noticeably from day two onwards, but no one else could match Sharma's success.
England captain Heather Knight described Sharma's bowling as "very threatening" while Nat Sciver-Brunt, who scored a first-innings half-century, believes it was her length which caused England headaches.
"When you play spin well, you're making good decisions going forward and back, not getting caught on the crease," Sciver-Brunt said. "She bowled a length that was difficult to read and attacked the stumps."
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