Hailing from Punjab, Harmanpreet Kaur is the current skipper of Indian women’s T20 team and the vice-captain of women’s ODI team. The attacking Indian middle order batswoman Harmanpreet Kaur born on 8 March 1989 in Moga, Punjab, India. Harmanpreet plays for Indian women’s cricket team as a designated allrounder. She is a right handed batter and also bowls right-arm off break. Her cricketing style is similar to that of legendary Indian opening batsman Virender Sehwag, who epitomised the attacking style of gameplay even in the direst of situations.
Harmanpreet Kaur made her One Day International debut at the age of 20, against Pakistan in March 2009 in the Women’s Cricket World Cup. She bowled four overs only conceding 10 runs. She made her T20 debut against England during the 2009 ICC Women’s World Twenty20 where she scored 8 runs from 7 balls. Harmanpreet Kaur made her test match debut on 13 August 2014 against England but did not have a great outing against the strong home team.
Harmanpreet Kaur holds the record for the highest individual score for India in Women’s cricket World Cup history. Kaur now holds the record for registering the highest ever individual score in a knockout stage of a Women’s World Cup match (171*) surpassing the previous record of 107* by Karen Rolton. Kaur was part of the Indian team to reach the final of the 2017 Women’s Cricket World Cup where the team lost to England by nine runs. In July 2017, Harman became second India batter to feature in the top-10 of ICC Women’s ODI Player Rankings after veteran player Mithali Raj.
Interesting Facts about Harmanpreet Kaur
Here are some of the interesting facts about the record breaking star Indian batswomen Harmanpreet Kaur –
- She is the first woman to score a century in Women’s Twenty20 International match a feat she achieved recently during the T20 World cup league match.
- During the 2016-17 season, Harmanpreet became the first Indian cricketer (male or female) to get signed by an overseas club in the T20 format of the game. She was signed by Women’s Big Bash League champions Sydney Thunder.
- Harmanpreet Kaur actually got a chance to captain India very early into her International career in 2012 when the Skipper Mithali Raj and then vice-captain Jhulan Goswami were injured before the 2012 Women’s Asia Cup started. This opened up doors for the then future star Harmanpreet to take up the responsibility and display her potential on a grand stage. Indian women’s team won the tournament by beating their arch nemesis Pakistan narrowly in the tightly contested final.
- The Moga’s Premier Cricket Academy was where Harmanpreet trained during the initial stages of her career. Kamaldish Singh Sodhi, the manager at Moga’s Premier Cricket Academy also played an instrumental role in helping Harmanpreet materialize her dream of becoming a professional cricketer. He assisted her financially and made sure she received high-quality training during the initial part of her career after recognizing her talent at early stages.
- Apart from cricket, Harmanpreet Kaur is also adept at playing volleyball, and basketball.
- Apart from being the first Indian to play in Australian Big Bash league, She also became the first Indian cricketer to sign a contract with Surrey Stars in ECB’s Kia Super League. She was later followed by dashing Indian Opener Smriti Mandana in the Kia Super League.
- Harmanpreet Kaur is a huge football fan and enthusiast.
- Harmanpreet Kaur herself revealed recently when asked who her best friend amongst her team mates she revealed it was Smriti Mandhana and went onto say that the duo have a lot of fun while playing play station together and also travel together while on abroad tours.
- Harman has played 90 ODI matches to date and scored 2220 runs including 3 centuries and 11 fifties. In T20 Internationals, the 29-year-old has scored a total of 1870 runs in 92 matches which include 6 half-centuries and a solitary century. She also took 22 wickets in ODI’s and 25 wickets in T20I matches she played till now.
- Harmanpreet Kaur scored a counter attacking 171 off 115 balls against Australia in the 2017 Women’s Cricket World Cup semi-final. This was the knock that made her an overnight sensation and won her many prestigious laurels last year. Her 171 run knock helped her become the second highest scorer in women’s one-day internationals the position which she holds till date.
- Harmanpreet Kaur was nominated as the member of Women’s T20I Team of the Year in December 2017 by the ICC.
- All was not rosy during the childhood for Harmanpreet Kaur as she to travel 30 kilometers away from her residence in Moga, to get quality training.
- Harmanpreet Kaur has a younger sister Hemjeet Kaur who is a post-graduate in English and works as an assistant professor at Guru Nanak College in Moga. She also has two brothers.
- Her father, Harmandar Singh Bhullar was a Volleyball and Basketball player. Her mother is Satwinder Kaur is a house wife. Her parents are baptized Sikhs.
- Harmanpreet Kaur initially used to play with men during the formative days of her career.
- Her best performance in a Test match came in 2015, when she picked up nine wickets in a Test match against South Africa at Mysore.
- After impressing in the club cricket she first got selected in the Moga district team. This gave her an opportunity to play in a big tournament like Punjab’s Inter-District tournament for the first time in her short career. She continued to impress there and later went on to represent the Punjab Ranji team as well before knocking the doors of Indian national women’s team.
- Her favourite film is SRK’s blockbuster movie Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge and her favourite Bollywood actor is Ranveer Singh
- Former Indian opener Virender Sehwag is her favourite cricketer.
- Her favourite hobbies are listening to Bollywood music and driving.
- She was awarded the prestigious Arjuna Award in the year 2017 by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports as a token of appreciation for her phenomenal performances.
Also Check:
