Courtesy: BCCI
On March 8, 2025, India women's captain Harmanpreet Kaur was born to Harmandar Singh Bhullar and Satwinder Kaur. Her father was a basketball and volleyball player. In March 2009, she broke into women’s international cricket with her appearance for India against Pakistan in the ICC Women’s World Cup 2009 game played in Bowral. In her 16-year international career, she has made a vital contribution to India Women’s side with her batting. Kaur has scored 3803 runs with six tons in 141 WODIs. With these numbers, she is the third-leading run-scorer for India in the format. Her WT20I record is also magnificent as she is the third-highest run-getter in the shortest form of the sport with 3589 runs in 178 matches.
Following Mithali Raj’s retirement, Harmanpreet Kaur became India women's cricket team skipper at the age of 34. With her leadership debut for the national side, she gained the seventh spot on the chart of the players with oldest captaincy debuts. In July 2017, she struck an unbeaten 171 against Australia Women in the WODI game played in Derby and became the India player with the second-highest individual score in the format. The 35-year-old has led India in 123 WT20Is which makes her player with most games as captain in the shortest form of the sport. In December 2017, she became a part of the ICC Women's T20I Team of the Year.
Success as Mumbai Indians captain in WPL 2023
Back in 2023, Harmanpreet Kaur became the second most-expensive player in the inaugural auction of the WPL. Mumbai Indians (MI) splurged INR 1.8 Crore to reserve India veteran’s services as captain and batter. Leading the side from the front in WPL 2023, she made MI the first champions of the league. With the bat, she chipped in with 281 runs in nine innings of 10 matches with three fifties.
The 35-year-old has played a lot of cricket in India and she will look to achieve success as captain in the ICC Women’s ODI World Cup 2025 at home to help her team bag the coveted trophy for the first time.
