Beneath the calm is a body of work so persistent that it reshapes how greatness is measured. As she became the leading wicket-taker in T20Is on Tuesday, she confirmed a notion around a legacy built not on spectacle, flashiness or moments but on mastery and repeatability.

It all boils down to skill but also her tenacity and a stubborn refusal to give up.

“When she was younger, she was very stubborn. When she used to play with boys, she never wanted to be dismissed, never wanted to get out,” Hemalatha Kala, former India selector and the eye that first spotted Deepti’s potential, told HT.

What separates Deepti from many of her counterparts is her consistency. While careers often rise and dip, hers has only seen an upward climb. Since her India debut in 2014, she has barely missed a beat.

“Even now, I see the same stubbornness. She never gives up. I’ve seen her improve day by day since 2014. I’ve seen many players come and go since then.. some perform, some don’t.. but Deepti has performed consistently for 11 years.”

With 152 wickets, the most in the shortest format, she knocked off another milestone. But so astounding was her year, that it was just another one.

She also picked up 39 ODI wickets, the most by any woman in a calendar year. This year, she also became the first female to take 150+ wickets in both formats. She also picked up more than 50 wickets in a calendar year for the third time.

But what makes her so effective? Firstly, she is reliable in all phases of the game, be it Powerplay, middle overs, death overs. Kala believes that Deepti has mastered bowling in all three. Technically too, Deepti may not be the most flamboyant bowler, she doesn’t extract a lot of turn, nor does she rely on any mystery. She doesn’t have a unique action but her effectiveness is unparalleled because she relies on control and accuracy.

“If you give her the ball, she will get you wickets and won’t leak runs,” Kala explained. “Her biggest strength is her accuracy and variation. She has perfected it.”

“She knows exactly what to bowl to whom and when. That comes from experience and game awareness,” Kala said. The sheer volume of games she plays both internationally and domestically is immense, and as a result, the experience is too.

Leadership also comes naturally to her. Teams look to her when they need a rescue act, coaches think of her as their MVP and crisis manager. And understandably so, Deepti takes pride in challenges and maximising rules and resources. “Players like her are born once in a generation. She was always like this,” Kala reflects. “Even as a youngster, she could win matches on her own.”

Coming from Agra, a place that has quietly produced several women cricketers including Kala herself and leg-spinner Poonam Yadav, Deepti became a symbol of that culture. “People look up to her,” Kala says. “She has inspired so many girls to believe they belong at this level.”

Skill and tenacity aside, Deepti is also an excellent planner. She is a bowler with quite a few bunnies as well – of the 31 bowlers to have dismissed a batter five or more times in T20Is, Deepti is the only one to do so against five different batters.

Game and situational awareness makes her one of the most intelligent bowlers in the game. Even as teams and players are increasingly making use of insights from match-up data, video and performance analysts on offer, her homework and observation for batters’ is still at the crux of her preparation.

This year, she added more variations to her kitty but her near-perfect execution of them is what stands out, according to Kala.

“Knowing the situation is the most important thing and she has mastered that as well. If you don’t want to give runs in the slog overs, you bowl accordingly. If you want perfection in variations, you work for it.”

“If I know a batter’s strength is on one side, I bowl accordingly,” she added. “It’s all about planning. Everyone knows these things now but execution is key and she does it very well.”

Deepti is currently third on the list of most wickets in women’s international cricket, with 334 wickets across three formats and the list will only grow. In a time where players find creative and innovative ways to outsmart opponents, Deepti is doing it all in rather simple fashion – perfecting her art and thriving.