“Believed in my hard work”: Deepti Sharma on ending 9-year ODI century drought

Vadodara (Gujarat) [India], October 26 (ANI): India all-rounder Deepti Sharma was delighted to end an almost 10-year wait for an ODI century, producing a superb unbeaten knock against Zimbabwe in the ICC Women’s Championship clash in Vadodara on Sunday.
Deepti struck the second ODI century of her illustrious career, scoring an unbeaten 106 to power India to a commanding 121-run victory at Kotambi Stadium and seal the series. The milestone marked her first century in the 50-over format since her sensational 188 against Ireland in May 2017.
The wait between her two ODI centuries spanned nine years and five months, or 3,450 days. The 29-year-old star all-rounder was ecstatic to finally reach the three-figure mark again, capping a memorable performance with a landmark innings.
"I tried a lot, but it took a lot of time to reach. But I believed in my hard work that I would reach (another century) sooner or later," Deepti said after the match as per the ICC website. 
"I think more than 100 was in my mind. How can we build a partnership in that situation? That was the mindset. And obviously, 100 is special. It feels good to reach after such a long time. And I am grateful that I was able to achieve that on the ground of Baroda," she added. 
Deepti wasn't the only India player to reach three figures against Zimbabwe, with former skipper Harmanpreet Kaur also reaching the milestone as she added 126 as the hosts posted a big total of 328/6 from their 50 overs.
Zimbabwe tried hard in reply when eventually dismissed in the penultimate over for 207 and Deepti was more than impressed with the efforts of the visitors.
"They played (well) in the first ODI as well," Deepti noted.
"They have good batters in their team as well. We cannot say that they are a weak team or play differently. But they gave us a fight. We knew that we could dismiss them given our bowling unit. That was the mindset. And I think all the bowlers did a good job. In fact, the whole team gave a good performance," she concluded. (ANI)