While India Women started the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 with a strong victory against Pakistan Women in the Group 1 fixture, Indian spinner Deepti Sharma created history with the most Women’s T20I wickets.
After India Women chose to bat first, they scored 170/6 in 20 overs. In reply, Pakistan Women were bundled out for only 106 runs, as India Women won the match by 64 runs.
Although opener Shafali Verma (6) and no.3 batter Jemimah Rodrigues (1) were dismissed cheaply, opener Smriti Mandhana and captain Harmanpreet Kaur handled the early pressure strongly. They had a brilliant 91-run third-wicket partnership, while Smriti scored 68 off 44 balls with nine fours and two sixes, and the skipper scored 36 off 35 balls with four fours. Later, Richa Ghosh played a game-changing knock of 34 off 17 balls with five fours and one six.
In reply, Pakistan Women had a strong start with 52 for 1 at the end of the powerplay. However, after the powerplay, Deepti Sharma led the Pakistan batting collapse, as the Indian spinner ended the game with the bowling figures of 4-0-10-5. Only the Pakistan opener Muneeba Ali (41) managed to reach the 20-run mark in that innings.
Deepti Sharma: Leading Women’s T20I wicket-taker
Deepti surpassed Thailand Women’s Thipatcha Putthawong’s (165 WT20I wickets) most Women’s T20I wicket-taker record by securing 166 WT20I wickets.
Deepti Sharma: Best Indian bowling figures in Women’s T20I
Deepti Sharma had the bowling figures of 4-0-10-5.
These were the best bowling figures by an Indian in the history of the Women’s T20I. The previous record was 3.5-1-11-5 by Jhulan Goswami against Australia Women in 2012.
These were the third-best bowling figures in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup history. The top two records in this list are 3.4-1-5-5 by Caribbean Deandra Dottin (vs Bangladesh Women in 2018) and 4-0-8-5 by South African Sune Luus (vs Ireland Women in 2016).
