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When Harmanpreet Kaur struck a spellbinding knock of 171 runs against Australia in the semi-final of the 2017 World Cup in England, it changed the face of women's cricket in India forever.
The way she demolished the Australian bowling attack with her monstrous innings caught everyone's imagination around the world. Women's cricket, as a whole, scaled unprecedented heights too. It appeared that nobody could come close to even matching the class, pomp and grandeur of that innings ever.
One year down the line since that magical and memorable knock, we got to witness an innings which was equally classy if not more. And at the end of it was none other than Harmanpreet herself.
Those kind of innings are often considered one of a kind in a player’s career. But here was Harmanpreet producing two of them, and that too, in a span of only a year.
While it was Australia who was at the receiving end during that splendid innings of 171, it was their trans-tasman rival New Zealand who became victim of the carnage this time. It surely takes something special to produced two innings of such significance in two back to back World events. There is no doubt now that how special Harmanpreet is.
Her innings of 103 runs on Friday, came off just 51 deliveries. It consisted of seven fours and a eight humongous sixes, most of which cleared a distance of 80 m easily. Her strike rate stood at a monstrous figure of 201.9.
She didn't start in the same way as she ended her innings. Kaur walked out to bat when India were staring down the barrel at 40/3 with two deliveries remaining in the first six overs of power play.
She took 20 deliveries to score her first 21 runs. And her next 82 runs came in just 31 deliveries. The change in gears was quite unbelievable. She went absolutely berserk during the last 10 overs of the innings.
The spinners found themselves at the receiving end of that carnage. She stated none who came in her way. Kaur didn't look to hit the gaps. In fact, she easily kept clearing the boundaries exactly where the fielders were stationed. The boundary riders were turned into mere spectators.
Jemimah Rodriguez’ firm stay at the crease did make it a little easy for Kaur but it was she herself who turned the game on its head. When he reached her century in the last over of the innings, she became only the first Indian woman to achieve this feat in World T20s. In the process, she also became the third captain to score a century in T20Is and also the third woman to score a century in World T20s.
New Zealand are one of the most dangerous sides in the T20I format. In fact, this format of the game is perfectly suited to their style of play. But Kaur’s innings completely demoralized them and thus made the task easier for the Indian bowlers later on.
It was a captain's knock she played and thus set an example of how to lead from the front. It was Kaur who changed the mindset of people regarding women's cricket a year back and it is her this time as well, who has redefined the way the sport is played by women once again. Hopefully, we will get to see many more Harmanpreet’s in the coming time ahead as India continues to make a steady ascent under her leadership.
