(Cricket news) Harmanpreet Kaur now holds the record for most wins as Indian captain in T20Is as she achieved this feat in the second of five-match T20Is against Australia Women on December 11. Harmanpreet has beaten the greats like MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma in this regard. She also has the second-most wins as captain in WT20Is as Harmanpreet first captained India as a stand-in captain for an injured Mithali Raj in the 2012 Women’s Asia Cup T20 final.
She passed in her maiden assignment, helping India win their fifth title in the tournament and Harmanpreet hasn’t looked back ever since. Earlier this year, Harmanpreet-led India to a silver medal in the 2022 Commonwealth Games, followed by a record seventh title in the Women’s Asia Cup T20. Harmanpreet has 50 wins which is the second-most wins as captain in WT20Is as she is still behind Australia’s Meg Lanning and former England cricketer Charlotte Edwards share the record (68). Harmanpreet has only featured in 84 matches as captain in WT20Is compared to Edwards (93) and Lanning (92). Harmanpreet (139) also has the joint-most appearances as a player in WT20Is.
Now she shares this record with New Zealand’s Suzie Bates as Harmanpreet boasts a 50-31 win-loss record across 84 matches since her first match as captain in 2012. She has become the first Indian captain to register 50 wins in the format. The former T20 World Cup-winning skipper Dhoni has 42 wins which ranks second, with current Indian captain Rohit (39). Harmanpreet is the fourth-highest run-getter in WT20Is as captain, she has scored 1,806 runs in 84 matches, averaging 30.10. She has a hundred to her name (103 vs NZ) along with six fifties. Only Edwards (2,529), Lanning (2,425), and Bates (2,006) have scored more runs than Harmanpreet in WT20Is.
India Women snapped their 17 match losing streak to Australia as they conceded 187/1 after opting to bowl. Alyssa Healy scored 25 and departed after a hostile start before Beth Mooney and Tahlia McGrath took over the 1st innings to get them to a formidable total. The duo fetched an unbeaten partnership of 158-runs to put the visitors on top. But the Indian women had other ideas as Smriti Mandhana guided the innings after they lost a bit of momentum in the middle overs but earned themselves a Super Over. In which Renuka Singh turned hero by defended 21 runs, helping INDW level the series 1-1.
