India, Dec. 31 -- Records often come with noise and flair, Deepti Sharma's arrive quietly and modestly. Much like her presence on the field - calm, unimposing yet powerful.

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...