Deepti Sharma becomes all-time leading wicket-taker in Women’s T20Is

Deepti Sharma doesn’t play for records, but the numbers found her on Tuesday night in Thiruvananthapuram. Claiming a vital wicket in the fifth T20I against Sri Lanka, she overtook Australia’s Megan Schutt to become the all-time leading wicket-taker in women’s T20Is, celebrating the milestone quietly while keeping her focus firmly on the team’s goals.

“Achieving milestones always gives me a great feeling, and as an Indian, it fills me with pride. Whenever I get chances, I focus on how I can deliver bigger and more meaningful performances for the team,” Deepti said after the match.

India capped off a 5-0 series sweep with a 15-run triumph at the Greenfield International Stadium. Deepti Sharma’s wicket of Nilakshika Silva took her past Megan Schutt’s 151 wickets, bringing her total to 152 in 133 T20Is. The record had lingered just out of reach—matched in the third match, paused in the fourth—before being claimed in the last encounter.

Deepti Sharma was quick to highlight the team’s performance over her personal records. “Talking about the 5-0 win, it was truly a team effort. Different players stepped up as match-winners in every game. This clean sweep will be a huge psychological boost for us,” she said.

Deepti Sharma’s record-breaking performance solidifies her status as one of the game’s all-time greats. She is now the first Indian, across both men’s and women’s cricket, to top the all-time T20I wicket list. In the third T20I of the series, she also became the first woman to surpass 150 wickets in both ODIs and T20Is, complementing her 162 ODI scalps. With 334 international wickets across formats, Deepti ranks third overall, trailing only Jhulan Goswami and Nat Sciver-Brunt.

Deepti Sharma’s impact goes far beyond the statistics. Across different conditions, opponents, and years, she has consistently been India’s go-to problem solver. She has claimed three Player-of-the-Series awards in T20Is, the joint-most by any Indian, and is the only woman to record 25+ wickets in a calendar year twice, along with 50+ international wickets in three separate years.