Harmanpreet Kaur Explained: India's Women's T20 Captain and Match-Winner
Who Harmanpreet Kaur is — India's women's T20I captain, her extraordinary 171 not out in the 2017 Women's World Cup, her role in transforming India's women's cricket profile, and her franchise cricket career.
Harmanpreet Kaur (born 1989 in Moga, Punjab) is India's women's T20I captain and one of the most important cricketers in the history of Indian women's cricket. A right-handed attacking batter who hits with power and plays cross-bat shots with aggression, Harmanpreet is one of the few women's cricketers who can single-handedly change the course of a match through destructive batting. Her leadership and playing style have been central to India's rise in women's cricket since 2017.
171 Not Out: The Match-Defining Innings
Harmanpreet's 171 not out against Australia in the 2017 ICC Women's World Cup semifinal is the defining innings of her career and one of the greatest in women's cricket history. India needed to chase Australia's total; Harmanpreet went out and produced an innings of extraordinary power hitting and placement — 171 from 115 balls, including 20 fours and 7 sixes. India won the match comfortably and progressed to the final (where they lost to England). The innings attracted mainstream media coverage in India beyond cricket publications — helping elevate women's cricket to a national audience that had barely previously engaged with the format.
T20I Captaincy
Harmanpreet has been India women's T20I captain since 2018. Under her captaincy, India have reached multiple ICC Women's T20 World Cup semifinals and the 2020 final (lost to Australia at Melbourne — where a record 86,174 spectators attended, the largest women's cricket crowd in history). Her captaincy approach is described as aggressive and read-the-game oriented — she promotes young players into match-defining situations and backs them even when the initial results are mixed. She has also been captain during the inaugural Women's Premier League (WPL) seasons.
DRS Controversy (2023)
Harmanpreet became the focus of a significant controversy in the 2023 Women's Asia Cup — after being given out, she walked off the field at a pace some observers described as indicating displeasure with the umpiring decision, and the incident attracted media attention about player conduct in women's cricket. The International Cricket Council (ICC) has increasingly applied the same Code of Conduct standards to women's cricket that apply in men's cricket, reflecting the rising profile of the women's game and the expectation that it will be governed to the same standards as the men's format.
Frequently asked questions
Why is Harmanpreet Kaur famous in women's cricket?
Her 171 not out against Australia in the 2017 ICC Women's World Cup semifinal is one of the greatest innings in women's cricket — 171 from 115 balls with 20 fours and 7 sixes. Combined with her T20I captaincy (India reaching the 2020 Women's T20 World Cup Final) and her role in raising the profile of Indian women's cricket, she is one of the most important figures in the modern women's game.
Is Harmanpreet Kaur India's women's captain?
Yes — she has been India's women's captain since 2018 across formats. Under her captaincy, India reached multiple T20 World Cup semifinals, the 2020 T20 WC Final (lost to Australia at Melbourne), and won their maiden Women's ODI World Cup in 2025 — defeating South Africa by 52 runs in Navi Mumbai. The 2025 ODI WC title was the pinnacle of her captaincy career.
What made Harmanpreet Kaur's 2017 World Cup innings so significant?
Not just the score (171 not out from 115 balls — one of the highest women's World Cup innings) but the context — it came in a semifinal against Australia, changed the match entirely, and attracted mainstream media coverage in India that helped bring women's cricket to a national audience. The innings is credited with triggering wider interest in Indian women's cricket.