Who is Nandani Sharma? The Delhi Capitals bowler who made WPL History with a five-wicket haul

Chandigarh medium-pacer Nandani Sharma took the Women’s Premier League by storm on Sunday, January 11, when she picked up five wickets against the Gujarat Giants, including a hat-trick. With this performance, she became only the second Indian player in the tournament’s history to take three wickets in three consecutive balls.

Although her effort came in a narrow loss at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai, Nandani still made a strong impact. Her five-wicket haul helped her earn the Purple Cap after an outstanding spell against the Gujarat Giants.

The DC bowler took her first wicket by dismissing Sophie Devine on 95 runs. She then returned in the final over and broke through the batting order, taking four wickets in that over alone, including a hat-trick that removed the last three batters of the innings.

Watch the video here:

Nandani Sharma Creates WPL History

This performance made Nandani Sharma the second Indian bowler to take a hat-trick in the Women’s Premier League, after Deepti Sharma. Before her achievement, only three hat-tricks had been recorded in the tournament, by England’s Issy Wong and Australia’s Grace Harris.

Nandani represents Chandigarh in domestic cricket, where she has captained her state side and also played for the North Zone. She was signed by Delhi Capitals for Rs 20 lakh at the auction and made her WPL debut against the Mumbai Indians in the opening match of the season.

See also -BCCI named shocking replacement in place of Washington Sundar for IND vs NZ ODI series

Match-Turning Spell Against Gujarat

In that game, she returned figures of 3 overs for 26 runs and took two wickets, removing Gunalan Kamalini and Nicola Carey. Against Gujarat Giants, she produced a match-changing spell of 5 for 33, including a hat-trick, as the team was bowled out for 209 runs.

Earlier in the innings, Sophie Devine gave Gujarat a strong start, hitting three boundaries off Chinelle Henry and then attacking Nandani with two fours and a six in the fourth over. However, Nandani bounced back strongly to turn the match in Delhi Capitals’ favour.