Deepti Sharma named ICC Women's Player of the Month for December

Deepti Sharma, an all-rounder of the Indian women's cricket team, has been feted with the ICC Women's Player of the Month award for December.

Deepti was conferred with the award ahead of her teammate Jemimah Rodrigues and Zimbabwe's 41-year-old spinner Precious Marange. This was Deepti's first ICC Player of the Month award.

Expressing her gratitude for the award, she said, "It's an honour to be voted the ICC Women's Player of the Month for December. I feel very good about my game at the moment, and I'm glad that reflected in my performances for India last month against strong opponents. I'll continue to work hard so that I can have more moments like this in the future," Deepti said.

The 26-year-old from Uttar Pradesh played a key role in India's wins over England and Australia in one-off Test.

In India's 347-run win over England in December in their comeback match in Test whites after two long years, Deepti picked up five wickets giving away merely seven runs. He also scored 67 in India's first innings. He would finish off the match with nine wickets, claiming another four wickets in the second innings.

It remains the second-best bowling figure in a Test match by an Indian women's cricketer.

Deepti burnt as bright as fire again against Australia when she amassed 73 off 121 to help India post 406. India would beat Australia by eight wickets to register their first-ever win against the Aussies.

In the ODI and T20I series against Australia, India won 3-0 and 2-1 respectively. Deepti again stood out. She claimed the second fifer of her career in the second ODI as she became the first Indian woman bowler to claim a five-wicket haul against Australia in ODIs.

In the second T20I match, she achieved another feat as she became the first Indian women's cricketer to score 1000 runs and pick 100 wickets in T20Is.