India women's cricket team all-format captain Harmanpreet Kaur created history against Australia on July 29 at Edgbaston, Birmingham. Harmanpreet become the first female batter to score a half-century in Commonwealth Games (CWG) history.
In the tournament opener against old foes Australia, Harmanpreet hit a half-century amidst batting collapse on the other end. Batting at no.4, the 33-year-old scored 52 runs from 34 balls including eight fours and one six. Her knock helped India post a fighting total of 154/8 on the board.
She came to bat in the 10th over of the innings. Apart from Harmanpreet, India's middle-order batter did not impress and fell to Jess Jonassen.
She got to her seventh T20I fifty in the final over with a four off Megan Schutt. The solitary six she hit was in the penultimate over against Jonassen, who ended up with a four-wicket haul.
Harmanpreet survived a scare in the 14th over when umpire's call saved her. She tried to slog-sweep Alana King but missed the ball.
Harmanpreet also became the first Indian batter to score 500 or more runs in the format against a particular team. After her 52-run knock, she has 526 runs against Australia. After her, Smriti Mandhana has 489 runs against the same opposition. The stylish opener scored 24 runs off 17 deliveries in the 25-run opening partnership with Shafali Verma.
This is the first time women's cricket is a part of CWG. The last time cricket was a part of the competition was in 1998. South Africa won the gold medal when the event was hosted by Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Australia and New Zealand had to settle for the silver and bronze medal respectively.
