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Who is Nandani Sharma? The Delhi Capitals pacer, who became the second Indian player to take hat-trick in WPL
Chandigarh and DC pacer Nandani Sharma became an early frontrunner in the Purple Cap race with a five-fer against Gujarat Giants.
The 2026 season of the Women's Premier League has yet another uncapped Indian talent leaving a mark early on in the tournament. Although her effort came in a losing cause at the wrong end of a thriller at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai, Delhi Capitals seamer Nandani Sharma made a name for herself as she took the Purple Cap with a five-fer against Gujarat Giants. A haul which included a hat-trick in the final over of the Gujarat innings.
After having taken her first wicket with the key scalp of Sophie Devine while she was batting on 95, Nandani returned in the last over of the innings. She proceeded to take four wickets in that over, including a hat-trick which saw the last three wickets of the innings as a whole.
The hat-trick saw Kanika Ahuja stumped as she tried to advance and smash the ball, before Nandani hit the stumps against Rajeshwari Gayakwad, and finally hitting timber against Renuka Thakur as well.
This marked Nandani as the second Indian bowler to take a hat-trick in the WPL, following in the footsteps of Deepti Sharma. There have been a total of three WPL hattricks before Nandani’s feat, with Issy Wong of England and Grace Harris of Australia also having achieved three wickets in three balls.
Who is Nandani Sharma?
Nandani Sharma represents Chandigarh on the domestic circuit, having captained her state side and also represented North Zone. The 24-year-old seamer was bought at the auction for INR 20 lakh by DC, and made her debut against Mumbai Indians in the first match of this season.
Despite Nandani's five-fer, the damage was done with GG reaching 210 in the first innings. In response, Delhi seemed to be struggled behind the rate for the majority of their chase, but kept wickets in hand as Lizelle Lee and Laura Wolvaardt exploded after getting set.
Delhi suddenly seemed in a good position to go on and win with 7 needed off the last over. However, despite two recognised batters in Wolvaardt and Jemimah Rodrigues at the crease, it was the bowler Devine who kept her cool the best. She dismissed both set batters, taking two wickets and only conceding two runs as DC lost a won match by four runs.
DC now slip to two losses from their first two matches, leaving Jemimah’s team a tough task to bounce back over the remainder of the tournament.
