Following her team's monumental ICC Women's World Cup win, Indian all-rounder completed a redemption story for the ages. From being caught in a shocker of a batting collapse during the 2017 World Cup final against England, she has come a long way to not only achieving the World Cup trophy, but also becoming the first player ever to hit a double of 200 runs and 20 wickets in a 50-over World Cup, be it men's or women's event. Deepti delivered one of the all-time great World Cup campaigns, scoring 215 runs in seven innings at an average of 30.71 and a strike rate of 90.33, with three fifties and a best score of 58 and topping the wicket-taking charts with 22 scalps in nine innings at an average of over 20, with a match-winning fifty and five-wicket haul coming in the final, truly saving her best for the last.
During the 2017 WC final vs England, she was helping India chase 229 runs, but she was the last recognised batter dismissed when India needed 11 in 12 balls, the ninth wicket to fall as a part of a collapse from 191/3 to 219 all out, resulting in a heart-aching nine-run loss.
In the 2022 edition, she did not even get a chance to take her team to the semifinals. In a must-win game against South Africa, she did have Mignon du Preez caught and bowled when the Proteas needed three runs in two balls. But she had delivered a no-ball. Team India lost the must-win match by three wickets and India missed the spot to the semifinals by a whisker, falling just a win short of entering the top four and finishing fifth.
However, in the 2025 final, she had a massive role to play, scoring a run-a-ball 58 and having important partnerships with skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and Richa Ghosh. She also unleashed a game-changing spell just when a 61-run stand between skipper Laura Wolvaardt and Annerie Dercksen threatened to put India's dream in danger, removing both set batters and getting a five-wicket haul, including the match-winning wicket of Nadine de Klerk.
Speaking during the post-match presentation, Deepti said that the tournament win "feels like a dream" because the team had not come out of their past emotions.
"Feeling really nice, I could contribute this way in a World Cup final. We have always thought about how we can use the takeaways from every match. Thanks to them (the people), this would not have been possible. As a team, we are feeling very happy," she said with joy.
The all-rounder also said that she enjoys performing no matter what role she is given, and being able to perform well as an all-rounder at such a stage is an amazing feeling.
"Laura played a very good innings. However, we were always calm and cheered each other up. As a bowling unit, we were talking about going to the last ball and to focus on our best ball, and that is what we did. (On what she wants to see changing) There has been a lot of change since 2017. I hope there are even more matches now for us. I just wanted to dedicate this player of the tournament trophy to my mom and dad," she added.
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