Cross rolling plays an important role in the production of high-quality tantalum (Ta) sputtering targets, which are crucial in achieving thin films for micro-electronic components. However, the effect of the cross rolling cycle on the microstructure homogeneity is always ignored. Therefore, 1 and 2 cycle samples were obtained by a new approach named a 135° cross rolling. The deformation and recrystallization behavior of high-purity Ta plate then was systematically compared between 1 and 2 cross rolling cycles, aiming to elucidate why the increase of cross rolling cycles can effectively ameliorate the microstructure gradient along the thickness direction. XRD results showed that the 2 cycle sample through the thickness consisted of a relatively homogenous {111}<uvw> ([111]//normal direction (ND)) and {100}<uvw> ([100]//ND) fibers while texture distribution was extremely uneven for the 1 cycle sample. The stored energy was quantitatively analyzed by X-ray line profile analysis (XLPA) and it was found that the stored energy across the thickness distributed more homogeneously for the 2 cycle sample. Misorientation characteristics of deformed grains with different rolling cycles were analyzed in detail by visualizing the misorientation angle based on an electron backscatter diffraction dataset. Many well-defined microbands and microshear bands occurred in the {111} grain at the center layer for the 1 cycle sample, while it can be effectively destroyed with the increase of the cross rolling cycle and few peaks occurred in the "point to point" plot. Kernel average misorientation (KAM) and grain reference orientation deviation-hyper (GROD-Hyper) further confirmed their differences. Then, micorband and microshear bands were detailedly characterized by TEM, and the analysis based on relative Schmid factor suggested that the primary slip system activated in the {111} grains led to the formation of microbands in the 1 cycle sample, while multiple slip systems appeared to be activated in the 2 cycle sample and deformation was more uniform. Upon annealing, the remarkably reduced stored energy gap between the {111} and {100} grain as well as the relatively homogeneous deformation microstructure between the surface and center layer for the 2 cycle sample was conductive to synchronous recrystallization together, while the high stored energy as driving force and preferential nucleation sites at the center region led to faster recrystallization for the 1 cycle sample. The recrystallization microstructure was relatively uniform and smaller variation in grain size for the 2 cycle sample through the thickness, which was beneficial to the application of Ta sputtering target. Therefore, the increase of cross rolling cycle can ameliorate the recrystallized kinetics and microstructure of high purity Ta plate.