Harmanpreet Kaur considers encouraging girls to take up cricket her biggest achievement
India Women’s captain Harmanpreet Kaur has wowed fans with her exceptional batting talent. However, the superstar cricketer considers encouraging young girls to take up the ‘gentleman’s sport’ as her greatest achievement.
In the 2017 Women’s World Cup semi-final, Harmanpreet famously smashed an unbeaten 171 off 115 balls against Australia. Courtesy of the brilliant knock, India reached the final of the World Cup. The Women in Blue however, faltered in the summit clash.
While Harmanpreet herself was disappointed, she was able to see the brighter side of things. She stated that India’s performance would encourage more girls to consider cricket as a professional career. The batter pointed out that this wasn’t the case earlier as cricket was considered a predominantly male domain.
The Indian captain is currently leading Mumbai Indians (MI) in the Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2023. She was purchased by the franchisee at the auction for Rs 1.80 crore.
Looking back at her cricketing journey, Harmanpreet developed a love for the sport thanks to her father, who himself was an aspiring cricketer, but ended up playing volleyball and basketball. As a child, Harmanpreet started her cricketing journey at the Gyan Jyoti Academy School, which was 30 kilometers away from her home. She has been trained by Kamaldeesh Singh Sodhi. In her formative days, Harmanpreet used to practice with the men’s team.
In 2021, the right-handed batter became the fifth Indian Women’s cricketer to play 100 or more ODIs. In the same year, she started playing for Melbourne Renegades in the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL).
Harmanpreet Kaur’s career stats
The 34-year-old made her international debut in the 2009 Women’s World Cup in the match against Pakistan. She has so far featured in 124 ODIs in which she has scored 3322 runs at an average of 38.18, with five hundreds and 17 fifties.
Harmanpreet also made her T20I debut in 2009 during the Women’s T20 World Cup in a game against England. The hard-hitting batter has already played 151 matches in the format in which she has scored 3058 runs at an average of 28.05, with one hundred and 10 half-centuries.
In August 2014, she made her Test debut against England in Wormsley. Harmanpreet has so far played three Tests for India.