‘I Like Challenges’: Deepti Sharma After Match Winning Performance against Windies

India women's cricket team spinner Deepti Sharma on Friday said her approach to try and extract more turn from the surface helped her return to career-best bowling figures in the third and final ODI here against the West Indies. The 27-year-old off-spinner claimed a match-winning 6/31 and scored 39 vital runs as India defeated the West Indies by five wickets to make a clean sweep of the three-match series.

"I have been doing a lot of hard work. My focus is to take as many wickets as possible and make as many runs as possible for the team. That has always backed me," Deepti told the media after the win.

"Yesterday's practice session helped me a lot. I spoke to bowling coach Avishkar Salvi sir as to how I can improve my bowling. He asked me to focus on getting more turn and how much help we are getting from the wicket. That helped me a lot," she added.

India's strong showing in the white-ball series against the West Indies — the hosts also won the T20I series 2-1 — helped them bounce back from a disappointing Australia tour.

"The experience of playing overseas definitely matters but one special aspect of this Indian team is that whether we win or lose, we stay together. We go through those ups and downs as a team and we always back each other," she said.

Deepti said she remains committed to giving her best, both with the ball and the bat. "As an all-rounder, I always think about how much I can contribute to the team. When you win 3-0, there is always a good feeling," she said.

"I like challenges. Whenever I face tough situations, I always like to step up for the team. You don't always get into crunch situations as a player but I like to play this role as an all-rounder." "Today, I backed myself to put on a crucial partnership with Jemi (Jemimah Rodrigues) so that we could get closer to our total," said Deepti, who put on 56 runs for the fifth wicket with Jemimah (29).

Deepti said it was important for the players to not think much about their 0-3 loss in Australia. "Sometimes it (defeats) happens, in a match or a series. Sometimes it doesn't go well, sometimes it goes really well. The players are the same, we have to stay the same," she said.