I am just excited overall for the game – Deepti Sharma on playing her 150th T20I

As India take to the field in Dubai to kickstart their Women’s Asia Cup campaign, Deepti Sharma will also be playing her 150th T20I match.

A milestone that comes very rarely will see Deepti become the third Indian player to rack up this milestone after Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana.

Talking in a video released by BCCI, Deepti Sharma opened up on the incredible journey she has taken. She also highlighted how playing for India is an honour itself.

Sharma said, “Every player thinks of making their debut for India and I will be playing my 150thT20I. Everyone thinks about a long career and I will be one of them. I will be very proud that I will get to wear that hat tomorrow. Every time I get to play, I get to wear the hat, there is no more prouder feeling than that.”

Reflecting on her incredible journey, “From my debut game until now, the journey has been incredibly good. Having played with every team and having played against every opponent, every team has taught me how many takeaways I can add, how much I can learn, I think it’s quite good. It is a sense of motivation when you play for your country.”

Highlighting the divergence between her younger self and her current state, Sharma said, “The difference between junior and senior Deepti is my experience. When you play your first game as a youngster with a lot of seniors surrounding you and now that you are playing, you have a lot of juniors surrounding you. So now you are teaching them from experience that how they can do better. So I think the opportunity that I have got to play a senior role is a different experience.”

Deepti also shed some light on how playing against different oppositions enriched her experience. She concluded by stating, “As challenges when you are playing different situations, you don’t feel as much pressure initially but now every match has a challenge where you have to execute certain things. It doesn’t matter if it is batting or bowling skill at hand, I have my own skill and now that I have played against a lot of oppositions, now I have a lot of experience too. I am just excited overall for the game.”