Dubai: Harmanpreet Kaur reached a peak on Saturday that no other cricketer has touched.
When she went out for the toss in the Women’s Asia Cup clash against Pakistan in Dubai, Harmanpreet became the first captain – male or female – to lead a country in 150 T20 Internationals.
Harmanpreet has also led India in 51 ODIs and five Test matches.
Interestingly, no male player has captained in 100 T20Is so far, the record among Test-playing national players being Pakistan’s Babar Azam (85).
It turned out to be a doubly memorable occasion for Harmanpreet as the women in blue skittled out Pakistan for a paltry 55 in 18.1 overs. Except for the two openers, every other batter fell for single-digit scores. Spinners Shree Charani (3/7), Prema Rawat (3/9) and Deepti Sharma (2/5) shared the spoils for India.
Harmanpreet then top-scored with an unbeaten 18 as India raced to a seven-wicket victory after losing three wickets within 4 overs.
Harmanpreet first led India in the shortest format in 2012. She became the permanent all-format skipper of the side in 2016, replacing senior pro Mithali Raj who retired.
The 36-year-old Harmanpreet led India to their only T20 World Cup final in history in 2020.
