Women’s T20 World Cup: India defeated New Zealand by 34 runs in 2018 thanks to Harmanpreet Kaur’s century at Providence Stadium.
Six years later, Harmanpreet Kaur’s record from the 2018 Women’s T20 World Cup still stands. The captain, who is currently Indian, became the first female player in the tournament’s history to achieve a hundred points. The only other Indian woman to score a century in Twenty20 Internationals is Harmanpreet.
At Providence Stadium in Guyana, she accomplished the feat against Amy Satterthwaite’s New Zealand team. The right-handed batsman hit some beautiful smashes and scored 103 runs off of 51 balls, including seven and eight fours. In 49 balls, she reached her century as India scored 194 for five.
The premium wicket was secured by Sophie Devine, the current White Ferns captain, but Harmanpreet had already caused significant damage by that point. India went on to win the match by a score of 34 runs, and Harmanpreet was named Player of the Match.
In the Women’s T20 World Cup, Smriti Mandhana, who bats first for India, achieved the second-highest individual scores of any Indian player with scores of 87 against Ireland in 2023 and 83 against Australia in 2018.
Is Harmanpreet able to lead India to win once again?
With the 2018 edition of the blockbuster tournament set to begin on October 3, Harmanpreet will lead the Indian squad. The 35-year-old is presently ranked third among all-time Women’s T20I scorers with 3426 runs from 141 games at an average of 28.08 and a strike-rate of 107.32, along with a century and twelve fifty to her credit.
Harmanpreet has amassed 576 runs at an average of 20.57 and a strike rate of 107.66 from 35 games in the T20 World Cup. In T20Is, the veteran also owns the record for most sixes scored by an Indian woman. When India plays New Zealand in their opening game on October 4 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, she will have the opportunity to repeat a similar feat.
India finished as the runners-up in 2020 and advanced to the semi-finals of the T20 World Cups in 2018 and 2023. It remains to be seen if Harmanpreet can lead them all the way.
