Deepti Sharma has been named the ICC Women’s Player of the Month for October 2026, the International Cricket Council announced on Friday, 13 November. The Deepti Sharma ICC Player of the Month award is the second of her career, after she first won it in December 2023. The 29-year-old all-rounder beat Bangladesh batter Sobhana Mostary and Australia all-rounder Annabel Sutherland to the honour after her performances in India’s home series against Zimbabwe. The award was announced on 13 November, a year after she starred in India’s World Cup triumph in October 2025.
Deepti Sharma ICC Player of the Month: the Zimbabwe series
Deepti scored 106 not out in her only batting opportunity in the ICC Women’s Championship one-day international series and took five wickets at an economy rate of 3.42 as India completed a 3-0 sweep. The hundred was her second in one-day internationals. She took three wickets in the second one-day international as India took a 2-0 lead in the series, and she had taken two wickets in the series opener. The Deepti Sharma ICC Player of the Month award followed a month in which she batted once in each series and still finished with 155 runs.
Her form carried into the Twenty20 international series that followed. The Deepti Sharma ICC Player of the Month case was built across both formats. Deepti struck 49 from 37 balls in the first Twenty20 international in Raipur after India had slipped to 19 for four, and she took two wickets in the series as India completed another 3-0 sweep. In total she scored 155 runs and took seven wickets across the six internationals, with India unbeaten in every match against Zimbabwe in October. India won all six matches against Zimbabwe in October, three in each format, with Deepti playing in every match.
Deepti batted only once in each series, yet she still finished October with 155 runs and seven wickets from six matches. The Deepti Sharma ICC Player of the Month award covers performances across all formats of international cricket in a single month, and Deepti’s October returns came with both bat and ball.
How the Deepti Sharma ICC Player of the Month award was decided
The Deepti Sharma ICC Player of the Month award is decided by a vote of fans registered on the ICC website and a specialist panel of former international players and media representatives. Deepti said: “I’m pleased to win the ICC Women’s Player of the Month award. 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.” She thanked the voting panel, the fans, her team mates and her coaches, and said she would like to dedicate the award to her fans across the world.
South Africa all-rounder Marco Jansen won the men’s award for October, his first monthly honour. Jansen scored 198 runs and took 13 wickets in the three-match Test series against Australia, and his performances took him to the top of both the ICC Test bowling rankings and the Test all-rounder rankings. He beat West Indies captain Shai Hope and Pakistan’s Arafat Minhas to the men’s award. Jansen’s award was announced alongside the Deepti Sharma ICC Player of the Month award on 13 November.
Deepti Sharma ICC Player of the Month award in context
October has been a productive month for Deepti before. She starred in India’s ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup triumph in October 2025, taking 22 wickets in the tournament, and she carried that form into the home series against Zimbabwe a year later. Her hundred against Zimbabwe came in her only innings of the one-day series, and her five wickets in that series came at an economy rate of 3.42. Deepti took 22 wickets in the World Cup, and her October form against Zimbabwe kept that run going.
Deepti bowls off-spin and bats in the middle order, and her all-round returns in October covered both disciplines in each series India played. The Deepti Sharma ICC Player of the Month award for October is her second monthly honour from the ICC, and it follows a year in which she played a leading part in India’s World Cup win on home soil.