Who is Indian Womens Cricket Team Captain Harmanpreet Kaur
She began pursuing cricket when she joined the Gian Jyoti School Academy, training under coach Kamaldeesh Singh Sodhi and joining the state team.
Yesterday, the Indian women's cricket squad won the Women's Cricket World Cup for the first time since its inception, marking a new beginning for women's cricket in the nation. The squad emerged victorious under the guidance of captain Harmanpreet Kaur, a cricketer with decades of experience.
Born on 8 March 1989 in Moga, Punjab, Kaur was the daughter of a former sportsman, Harmandar Singh Bhullar. She began pursuing cricket when she joined the Gian Jyoti School Academy, training under coach Kamaldeesh Singh Sodhi and joining the state team.
She made her debut in a 2009 ODI match against Pakistan at the age of 20, before playing in other international formats. Kaur was first made a captain when Mithali Raj was rested in the 2013 ODI match against Bangladesh, a chance to showcase her leadership skills. She then became captain against Bangladesh for the 2016 Asia Cup, going on to lead several other teams throughout her career.
Kaur was the first Indian cricketer - male or female - to sign a contract with Sydney Thunder for the 2016 Big Bash League. She was also the first Indian to sign with Surrey Stars in the 2017 Kia Super League.
Other achievements of hers include scoring more than 8,000 runs in the international playing field and more than 3,000 runs in WT20Is in 2023. She was also deemed the first Indian to score a century in a WT20I match in 2018, the first Indian cricketer to play in 100 T20I matches, and one of the few to score over 3,000 runs in WODIs.
With her guidance, the Indian women's squad achieved their first bilateral ODI series win in England in 2022. She also led the team to their first T20I series win against England in 2025 and their first test win against Australia in 2023.
She modelled her aggressive play style on that of Virender Sehwag, who inspired her to pursue cricket in the first place. Kaur is also amongst the first generation of women cricketers to be a part of ad campaigns, endorsements, and central contracts, standing on par with their male counterparts.
The highlight of her career was in 2020, when she pushed the Indian team to the T20 World Cup finale. Only a few years later, she gave the Mumbai Indians their first WPL victory.
No other women's cricketer has pushed the boundaries of the sport as much as Harmanpreet Kaur, and her latest title as a winner of the 2025 Women's Cricket World Cup further tests the limits, leading India into a new era of women's cricket.
This article is written by K. Tejasree, an intern
