Deepti Sharma named ICC Women’s Player of the Month for October

India's star all-rounder Deepti Sharma was on Friday named the ICC Women's Player of the Month for October, winning the award for the second time in her career following a series of impressive performances against Zimbabwe.

The 29-year-old beat Bangladesh's Sobhana Mostary and Australia's Annabel Sutherland to claim the monthly honour. "I'm pleased to win the ICC Women's Player of the Month award," Deepti said in an ICC release.

"The series against Zimbabwe was a great one for us, and I'm proud of the way the team performed, especially the youngsters. "Scoring a century was a particularly special moment for me, made even more meaningful as it contributed to a winning cause." Last year during this month, Deepti starred in India's World Cup triumph, and this year she showed fine form in the contests against Zimbabwe.

"I would like to thank the voting panel and fans for this recognition, as well as my teammates and coaches for their continued support," she said. "I would like to dedicate this award to my fans across the world." She yielded critical outputs across the two formats in Zimbabwe's inbound tour.

Deepti began with a quickfire 49 in the first T20I against Zimbabwe in Raipur to help setup a victory after the hosts were in a spot of bother at 19/4. Over the series, she collected two wickets to help India secure a clean sweep.

That form translated across to the ODI series as Deepti secured two wickets in the series opener in another India triumph. This was followed by her standout performance in the second ODI, where the 29-year-old hit her second ODI century and chipped in with three valuable wickets as India clinched a 2-0 lead in the series.

In total, Deepti scored 155 runs and picked seven wickets across formats as India remained undefeated against Zimbabwe across the six international contests. In men's cricket, South Africa all-rounder Marco Jansen was named the ICC Player of the Month for October after he played a pivotal role in his side's memorable 2-1 World Test Championship series triumph over Australia.

The 26-year-old overcame fellow nominees, Pakistan's rising all-rounder Arafat Minhas and West Indies' white-ball skipper Shai Hope to claim his first-ever Player of the Month accolade.