India, Aug. 31 -- Indian cricket loves the all-rounder. It has spent years discussing what Ravindra Jadeja allows a Test XI to do, how Hardik Pandya changes the construction of a white-ball side, and how precious a cricketer becomes when one selection can solve two, sometimes three, problems at once. Balance is among the most frequently used words in the game.

For more than a decade, Indian women's cricket has had a player who has provided precisely that luxury. Deepti Sharma has opened the batting, occupied the middle order, repaired collapses, finished innings, taken the new ball, strangled teams through the middle overs, bowled when batters are swinging at the death and remained one of India's sharpest fielders. The assignment has cha...