Harmanpreet Kaur: Indian skipper aims for World Cup crown

New Delhi: Harmanpreet Kaur was born on March 8, 1989, in Moga, Punjab, to Harmandar Singh Bhullar, a volleyball and basketball player, and Satwinder Kaur. Her father, a former aspiring cricketer, served as her first coach when she began her journey in the sport.

Education

Harmanpreet started her cricketing career from Gian Jyoti School Academy, which is 30 km away from her home. She was coached by Kamaldeesh Singh Sodhi. She moved to Mumbai in 2014 and joined Indian Railways.

In 2018, it was alleged that she had been relieved of her position as Deputy Superintendent of Police after the forgery of her degrees was revealed. However, she responded to these allegations saying that all her qualifications were valid.

Kaur claims that she did graduation through distance learning from Chaudhary Charan Singh University between 2009-2011. Kaur started her graduation at a college in Jalandhar but took a change of university midstream as cricket commitments clashed with dates of exams. She followed subjects such as sociology, political science, English, and general awareness during studies.

Based on her graduation certificate, Kaur enrolled in a postgraduate program at a different university; however, she was unable to take her exams due to her commitments to overseas tournaments.

International cricket career

Harmanpreet Kaur honed her skills by playing alongside men during her early career. She made her international debut at 20, facing Pakistan in the 2009 World Cup at Bradman Oval, Bowral. Later that year, in June, she played her first T20 match against England during the ICC Women’s World Twenty20 at County Ground, Taunton.

She became the first Indian cricketer to sign a Big Bash League contract with Sydney Thunder in Australia. That season came in January 2016 after a brilliant outing of 46 off 31 balls in India’s highest ever T20 chase while Australia toured the country. And in June 2017, it was Surrey Stars for her, making her the first Indian to be part of the ECB’s Kia Super League.

Her innings of unbeaten 171 runs against Australia in the 2017 ODI World Cup semi-final is regarded as one of the greatest innings in the history of limited overs cricket.

But the epitome of her captaincy was 2020, where she took her Indian team to the finals of T20 World Cup against Australia, which were played in front of a record crowd of 86,174 at the MCG. Three years later, she marched into a new era of women’s cricket in India as she led her franchise, Mumbai Indians, to triumph in the first Women’s Premier League (WPL).