Harmanpreet Kaur: The captain who changed how India’s women played cricket

Harmanpreet Kaur’s magical innings instilled belief in the Indian women’s cricket team in 2017, before she led them to their first World Cup eight years later. Save Share For nine years, Harmanpreet Kaur’s career as captain of the Indian women’s cricket team teetered on the brink of near-misses and lingering deliberations. The biggest question centred on an elusive maiden World Cup title and India’s failure to cross the final hurdle at major tournaments. Their breakout run at the one-day international (ODI) World Cup ended in heartbreak in 2017, a year after Kaur was appointed captain in the Twenty20 format and earmarked to take over the reins across all formats of the game. Under her leadership, India qualified for but lost their first T20 World Cup final in 2020 and ended with a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games in 2022, before suffering another agonising T20 World Cup semifinal defeat in 2023. In November 2025, the what-if was finally buried. Kaur’s India beat then-defending champions Australia in a sensational come-from-behind World Cup semifinal before overcoming a resolute South Africa in the final to becrowned world champions for the first time– in front of adoring home fans. Less than a year later, on October 6, 2026, Kaurstepped down as India’s all-format captain, ending a decade-long leadership journey that saw India transform into world champions after decades spent chasing cricket’s traditional heavyweights Australia and England. “This is not an easy decision,” the 37-year-old wrote in an Instagram post, adding that she will continue to play international cricket. “As a captain, I have had to make difficult decisions. Decisions that were not always understood, not always easy, and sometimes came at a personal cost.” The announcement was made after discussions on the future of Indian women’s cricket, which took place a day earlier between Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, head coach Amol Muzumdar and Devajit Saikia, honorary secretary of the Indian cricket board. Mandhana, who was Kaur’s deputy for four years, replaced her as captain. Kaur, India’s most capped women’s cricketer, enjoyed a leadership stint that included five Test matches, 51 ODIs and 155 T20Is, with win percentages of 80, 58.82 and 59.35 respectively. The Punjab-born top-order batter’s last game in charge was the recently concluded Asian Games in Japan, whereIndia stepped on the podium as gold medallists. Nine days earlier, Kaur led them to anAsia Cup trophyin the United Arab Emirates....