You may know her as the captain of the Indian women cricket team that crashed out of the semifinal of the recently concluded ICC Women T20 World cup. You may also know her as the captain of the Mumbai Indian Franchisee in the upcoming WPL 2023. Still, there’s lot to know about the life and journey of Harman Preet Kaur that her achievements on the cricket field.
In this blog, we will walk you through to certain facts and stories about Harman Preet Kaur as a person, and not just a cricketer.
Having sports in her blood right from the start !
You may not know but Harman Preet Kaur belong to a family of sportspersons. Her father Harmandar Singh Bhullar used to be a famous volleyball and basketball player in Punjab. Born on March 8, 1989 in Moga, Punjab, Harman got most of her motivation from her father during her early days.
Right from her childhood, she has her sight set on becoming a cricketer. This is where her father made her join the Gian Jyoti school academy that is located more than 30 kilometeres away from their home. Well, all these efforts reaped some big rewards lately under the impeccable supervision of her coach Kamaldeesh Singh Sodhi.
Harman Preet Kaur’s Journey to become India’s topmost women cricketer!
We all know that until recently, no one use to give much footage to women’s cricket in India. Same holds true for Harman Preet Kaur’s journey as a cricketer during her early years. While she used to get the coaching under Kamaldeesh Singh Sodhi, it took her some good time to make it into the Punjab Ranji team.
Given her impeccable cricketing skills, Harman secured a spot in the district women’s cricket team of Moga. This is where she kicked off journey and further played the most famous Inter district Women cricket tournament in Punjab.
While the initial few matches didn’t go as she expected, Harman Preet Kaur eventually made everyone notice her unmatched skills. Well, it was just a matter of time as she secured her selection in the Punjab’s women cricket team.
Harman Preet Kaur brought in some memorable performances in the Ranji Trophy and this landed her a spot in the Indian national women’s team for the 2009 ICC World Cup. More interestingly, she made her debut against the arch rivals Pakistan.
The match went well for Indian team with a victory by 10 wickets and that’s how Harman’s journey in the International cricketing arena got started. Moreover, she also played her maiden T20 international in the same year against England women’s cricket team in Taunton.
Taking charge of the Indian Women’s cricket team !
Harman Preet Kaur is a born leader and same is confirmed by all his coaches and teammates from her Ranji days. So, it didn’t take her much time before becoming the captain of the Indian women cricket team.
It was T20 ASIA CUP in 2012 where India’s captain Mithali Raj got injured. Moreover, given the injury to Vice captain Jhulan Goswami as well, Indian selectors gave Harman Preet Kaur the charge of the Indian women cricket team.
Well, it all turned out perfectly and the Indian team won the tournament by beating arch rivals Pakistan in the finals by 18 runs.
Few Good to know facts about Harman Preet Kaur !
Harman Preet Kaur got a very unique record under her name. During her magnificent knock of 171 runs off just 115 balls against Australia, she became the first women cricketer in India to score a 150 in a limited over innings.
Besides, this score stays as the highest individuals score by an Indian women cricketer till date. The record further felt special as Indian team surpassed their Aussie counterparts in a crucial world cup knockout game.
Harman preet is the first Indian cricketer to sign a deal with the very famous Women big bash league team, Sydney Thunder. She does so in 2016 and further grabbed everyone’s attention while scoring some crucial knocks for her team in the tourney.
Despite a memorable stint in the limited over game, Harman preet is yet to make his mark in the test cricket for the Indian women team. Even while making her debut in the Test cricket in 2014 against England, she is yet to score a half century or a century. Moreover, her dismal stats shows just 26 runs in the first two test matches
Still, its all about her performances in the limited over cricket and HarmanPreet Kaur has slammed 1974 runs with 3 centuries and 9 half centuries to her name.
On the other side, her T20 stats are worth noticing as this Indian cricketing diva has scored 1223 runs in 60 innings with 4 half centuries.
Harman Preet Kaur is a big fan of former Indian men cricketing legend Virender Sehwag. In one of her interviews, she made special mention about this swashbuckling Indian opener and how she used to imitate his shots in the nets.
Bottom line
Harman Preet Kaur is without a doubt a prolific cricketer by every means. As she is about toe captain the Mumbai Indian women team for the WPL 2023, her fans would surely be counting high on her. Moreover, given India’s unfortunate loss against the Australia women team in the ICC Women T20 world cup semis, she will be itching to find her mojo back on the cricket field.
Whether or not she will be able to repeat her heroics in the Women IPL 2023 is yet to be seen. Up until then, we will keep bringing you all the updates and happenings from the coveted league right here. Stay tuned
