Harmanpreet Kaur's 3 best knocks as Indian captain

Indian Women's Cricket Team captain Harmanpreet Kaur celebrates her 34th birthday on Wednesday, March 8. The all-rounder from Moga has been a great servant to the side for a number of years now and has been pivotal in her role as captain since taking over the responsibilities from Mithali Raj.

Having made her debut in 2009, Harmanpreet Kaur has played 124 ODIs and 151 T20Is for India. She has been a destructive middle-order batter for a number of years and is someone who seems to thrive with the added responsibility of captaining a side.

On that note, we take a look at three of her best knocks as the Indian captain.

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#1 143* vs England, 2022

The Indian side gave a perfect farewell to Jhulan Goswami, who played her last international series in England last year. In the second ODI of the three-match series, Harmanpreet Kaur stole the limelight with a sensational century, scoring an unbeaten 143 off 111 balls.

She hit 18 fours and six maximums in that knock, accelerating through the gears superbly for a run-a-ball century. Harmanpreet then went all guns blazing, helping India score 62 runs in the last three overs of their innings, posting a total of 333/5.

The innings helped India record a comfortable 88-run victory with the captain winning the Player of the Match award for her match-winning century.

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#2 52 vs Australia, 2023

Unfortunately, this innings ended in a losing cause. But it was right up there with one of the best knocks the Indian captain has played. Coming up against the mighty Australians in the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup 2023, India were tasked with a target of chasing 173.

The job at hand became even tougher after the top order struggled in a crunch game, with the Women in Blue finding themselves at 28/3 inside the powerplay. It was Jemimah Rodrigues and Harmanpreet's 69-run stand in the middle that helped India lead the counterattack.

The Indian captain was a woman on a mission that day, seemingly taking the game away from Australia before an unfortunate runout turned the game on its head. After an appalling collapse, India eventually lost the game by five runs.

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#3 103 vs New Zealand, 2018

Harmanpreet scored her first T20I century at the T20 World Cup in 2018. Playing against New Zealand in Providence, the Indian captain led from the front to make sure her side started off their campaign with a win.

After winning the toss and deciding to bat first, the captain played a blistering knock of 103 off only 51 balls, smashing four boundaries and eight sixes. India posted a massive total of 194/5 on the board courtesy of that knock, with Jemimah Rodrigues also chipping in for a 134-run stand alongside the captain.

The Women in Blue won the game comfortably in the end by a margin of 34 runs. The captain's knock helped the team kick off their tournament with a resounding win.