Growing up in Moga, Punjab, all Harmanpreet Kaur wanted in life was to be a cricketer. Since hardly anyone in her hometown — or most of the country, for that matter — followed women’s cricket at that time, she used to get teased.
“What will you do — open with Sehwag?” her younger brother would ask her.
She may not have walked out to bat with her idol, but the dashing former India opener once tweeted: “An innings of a lifetime, Harmanpreet Kaur...Fan!”
Sehwag was referring to the innings widely regarded as the greatest ever in the women’s game and among the finest overall. That knock, against Australia in the semifinal of the 2017 World Cup at Derby, changed women’s cricket in India forever.
Not since Kapil Dev’s unbeaten 175 against Zimbabwe in Tunbridge Wells at the 1983 World Cup has an innings made such an impact. Two years after her epic 171 not out off 115 balls, Harmanpreet remembers every shot, every moment.
“I am grateful to god that I could play that innings,” she told The Hindu in Surat on the day she became the first Indian cricketer to play 100 T20Is. “Earlier, I used to have talks with senior players like Jhulan Goswami about the lack of interest in women’s cricket. We used to wonder when people would start coming to watch us play. I am glad that I could play a role in making that happen before I retired.”
The innings may never have happened — she had feared that her World Cup was over when she injured her left ring finger earlier in the tournament. But for team physio Tracy Fernandes, she may have been sent home.
Biju George, India’s fielding coach at the time, says it was a privilege watching Harmanpreet’s innings at close quarters. “It is the best innings — by a man or a woman — I have ever seen in 50-overs cricket,” he says. “All of us in the dressing room knew that we were watching something special.”
Snehal Pradhan, who played alongside Harmanpreet for India before becoming a journalist, says the feeling inside the press box was similar. “That was the time when no Indian media house sent reporters for women’s matches, but there were several from England and Australia, and we were discussing whether this was the greatest innings in ODIs,” she says. “It was after that match that I started getting calls from people wanting to know about women’s cricket.”
Snehal first saw Harmanpreet during the 2008 Challenger Trophy at Ahmedabad. “She was my India-B teammate and was included as a medium-pacer,” Snehal says. “But even in that match, she showed her ability as a hard-hitter though she had come in at No. 9.”
Harmanpreet was trained to strike the ball hard. Her first coach, Yadwinder Singh, would make her hit 100 to 150 sixes per day. This regimen enhanced her wiry strength and innate timing.
Biju says her high back-lift and smooth swing add distance to her hits. It’s no surprise then that at just 19, in her first year of international cricket in 2009, she was turning heads with the might of her ball-striking.
“I have never seen any woman hitting a cricket ball with as much power,” says R.P. Singh, a Chandigarh-based coach who has worked with Harmanpreet. “I had only to suggest some slight changes to her technique and help her become mentally strong.”
The combination of skill and will has contributed towards making her one of the biggest names in the game. She remains among the fittest in the squad — her yo-yo test scores are consistently high. With 2,372 runs from 99 ODIs and 2,032 runs from 103 T20Is, she is much sought-after in T20 leagues overseas.
Harmanpreet believes it is time India had a league of its own. “I think we are ready,” says India’s T20I captain. “Look at the way crowds responded to the Women’s T20 Challenge at Jaipur a few months ago; there were full houses.”
She says there is enough talent in India to have four or five teams in an IPL-like league. “There is already a group of 40 talented players in the domestic pool,” she says. “Look at the case of Shafali Verma.”
Shafali was discovered at that four-match series in Jaipur. Last weekend, during the first T20I against West Indies in St. Lucia, the 15-year-old became the youngest Indian to score an international fifty, breaking her idol Sachin Tendulkar’s record.
“We will get more stars like Shafali if we had a women’s IPL,” says Harmanpreet. “Such a league will reduce the gap between domestic and international cricket for our players.”
The very fact that the BCCI has started to think about the possibilities of a women’s league shows how much ground the sport has covered in the country. “Now people are coming out to watch women’s matches and we are covered extensively by the media,” she says. “The quality of our cricket has also improved drastically, the fielding in particular.”
Harmanpreet herself is a prime example of the fast rising standard of India’s fielding. At the beginning of this month, she took an absolute blinder to send back West Indies’ Stafanie Taylor in the first ODI at Antigua. She leapt high into the air and held a one-handed catch at long-on.
It was one of the finest catches you will ever see. Clearly, Harmanpreet knows how to change the game and entertain all at once, even without bat in hand.
