Harmanpreet Kaur adjudged the Women's Player of the Year by the Sydney Thunder
What’s the story?
Indian Women’s T20I captain Harmanpreet Kaur has been given Sydney Thunder’s Women’s Player of the Year award for the second season of the Women’s Big Bash League. The news was announced by the team’s Twitter handle on Saturday.
Pat Cummins, who was brought in a replacement for Mitchell Starc during Australia’s tour of India, after the Ranchi Test, won the Michael Hussey Medal for the Best Men’s Player of the Year award for the Men’s Sydney Thunder franchise.
In case you didn’t know...
Last year, the 28-year-old became the first ever Indian cricketer to be picked by a Big Bash League franchise, when the Sydney Thunder picked her in their squad. Kaur’s selection was soon followed by that of Smriti Mandhana, who was picked by the Brisbane Heat, later in the year.
The heart of the matter
During her time with the Thunder, Kaur played in 13 matches and scored 296 runs at a very, very impressive average of 59 and a strike-rate 116. She, in fact, made an impression right at the very start of her stint, when she played a lofted shot over the cover region and it went for a six, much to the surprise of the commentators watching the game.
She also slammed the joint-second most number of sixes in the competition and also hit 17 fours during her stint.
Here’s a video of that six:
Extra Cover: SK Flashback: Harmanpreet Kaur's 28th birthday
What’s next?
Obviously, the next step for her would be to better her performance this year, next year if give sufficient chances. Hopefully, she will have a good limited-overs season ahead of the next season, which would prosper her chances further of getting a regular berth in the playing XI.
Author’s take
It is indeed a matter of great pride to see an Indian being awarded the best player when a whole group of local players had also done extremely well. Clearly, Kaur's performance has caught the eye of the Australians, who were covering the games and it is fantastic to see her performance being rewarded. One can only hope that she can do even better in her second season.