Sydney Thunders signs Smriti Mandhana and Deepti Sharma for WBBL 07

The left-handed opener Smriti Mandhana has been signed by Sydney Thunder along with the all-rounder Deepti Sharma ahead of the Women's Big Bash League. Deepti Sharma has been roped up as a replacement for England skipper Heather Knight.

The defending champions will be looking to defend their title in the upcoming season with Smriti Mandhana and other star players. However, it will be Smriti Mandhana's third franchise after Brisbane Heat and Hobart Hurricanes. In WBBL, she has featured in 25 games and piled up 407 runs that she played at an average of 19.37.

Coming to Deepti Sharma, she has bagged enough success in the recently concluded "The Hundred" tournament. During the tournament, she represented the London Spirit franchise where she went on to scalp 10 wickets and conceded below 6 runs per over. After Shafali Verma and Radha Yadav, Smriti Mandhana and Deepti Sharma will be the other players to take part in the WBBL 2021-22 league. 

The official site of Sydney Thunder added "Smriti is an opening batter who has the tremendous ability to take everything in her stride. I like that she keeps her game really simple; she just wants to score runs. I'm delighted to have her on board, and I have no doubt that she'll prove to be a great addition to Thunder.

"Deepti is a match-winner and she also has the talent to bowl in the powerplay, during the middle of a match, or at the death. Deepti is a great addition to the Thunder, and I have no doubt she’ll go a long way to helping us in this year’s competition," the source added.

After being roped in by Sydney Thunder, Mandhana said," I like it, it always helps. Playing in overseas leagues gives you a lot of experience, especially in the T20 format. Then, of course, you exchange so much experience with each other... with all the players from over the world... so you get to learn a lot."

"Rather than ‘pressure’, I always look at it as an opportunity to learn, and to get used to that pressure because it only builds when you play international cricket," she added.