Harmanpreet Kaur | The game changer

Illustration: Sreejith R. Kumar Dressed in a dark blue blazer and white trousers, her hair gathered in a tight ponytail and her hands clasped behind her back, Harmanpreet Kaur is looking at the famous balcony at Lord’s. The camera has captured the moment from behind, as she stands there at cricket’s best-known venue, situated in northwest London.The picture seems to have been taken in July, during the photoshoot ahead of the historic Women’s Test match between India and England. It was the first-ever women’s Test at Lord’s, the history of which dates back 239 years. Harmanpreet chose that image for the Instagram post through which she announced her decision to step down as the India captain. Harmanpreet’s fairly long and well-written message was posted on Tuesday (October 6, 2026) . It has had 1.4 million views and about 30,500 comments.Not everyone who viewed the photograph in the post would have been a long-time follower of women’s cricket. It is not even a decade since female practitioners of India’s favourite obsession began to be known beyond their families and friends, apart from a small circle of committed supporters.And it was Harmanpreet who forced the Indian cricket fan to take a closer look at the women’s game. In the semifinal of the 2017 World Cup at Derby, she played an innings that still remains perhaps the greatest played by a woman. Her 171 not out off just 115 balls stunned defending champions Australia. Former Australian captain Alyssa Healy said it even forced her team to change the way it played its cricket.Innings of a lifetimeHarmanpreet’s own hero, Virender Sehwag, called it an innings of a lifetime and tweeted, “Harmanpreet Kaur...Fan!” When she was a little girl growing up in Punjab’s Moga, wanting to be a cricketer, when hardly anyone there knew women even played the game, she used to be teased by her brother, “What will you do — open with Sehwag?”Two years after that out-of-the-world knock, Harmanpreet had told this writer, during an interview in Surat, how much she used to wish for people to come and watch women play cricket. She was grateful destiny chose her to play a part in making it possible.Harmanpreet was the catalyst, but it was the BCCI’s decision to take women’s cricket under its wings that brought visibility and professionalism to the game. Then the launch of the Women’s Premier League (WPL), in 2023, and India’s victory at the ODI World Cup at home last year have expanded the fan base. Harmanpreet was the captain who led India to that World Cup win; it was India’s first global trophy in women’s cricket. She was also the skipper when the Mumbai Indians emerged as the WPL champion in the inaugural edition.She has had a lot of success in recent times, too. Under her captaincy, India won the Asia Cup and then the gold medal at the Asian Games. Before that, India crushed England in that Test match at Lord’s. That was only her fifth Test as captain. That women get to play very few matches in the game’s finest format remains a cause for concern even in these rosy times. She led India in 51 One-Day Internationals and 155 Twenty20 Internationals.Overall, she has played eight Tests, 164 ODIs and 210 T20Is. Those numbers could grow further, as she has clearly said she wants to continue to play for India, though she has resigned as captain. She has plenty to offer as a player, and India needs her in the line-up. She remains one of the best batters in the game. Few women could hit a cricket ball as hard as she could. Her ability to hit hard was noticed early. And she had worked hard on that. Her first coach Yadwinder Singh made her hit 100 to 150 sixes every day. She debuted for India in 2009. Three years later, she led the country for the first time at the Asia Cup in 2012 — it would take a few years before she was made captain full-time — and India emerged as champions. She went on to lead India in many more memorable wins.As she looked at the Lord’s balcony that sunny day in July, in the twilight of her career, some of those images may have passed through her mind. Published - October 11, 2026 01:22 am IST