Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur created history in T20I cricket as she walked out for toss against Ireland in the must-win women’s T20 World Cup 2023 clash. Harmanpreet became the first cricketer (male or female) to play 150 T20Is.
“It (playing 150 T20I games) means a lot, I got an emotional message from my team-mates. Thanks to BCCI and ICC, we are able to play so many games,” Harmanpreet said at after winning the toss and opting to bat first at St George's Park, Gqeberha.
In the previous clash against England, Harmanpreet had surpassed Indian male T20I team skipper Rohit Sharma who has played 148 T20Is.
In women’s T20I cricket, Harmanpreet is followed by New Zealand's Suzie Bates (143), England's Danielle Wyatt (141), Australia's Alyssa Healy (139) and Ellyse Perry (137).
Harmanpreet has not been in best of forms of late. She has scored 53 runs from three games. In the unsuccessful run chase against England on February 18 at the same venue, the 33-year-old registered a single-digit score.
Against Ireland, Harmanpreet promoted herself up the order. She walked out to bat in the 10th over after opener Shafali Verma's wicket. She failed to make a mark and managed to score just 13 runs from 20 deliveries. She did not score a single boundary in the innings. She got out trying to hit a big shot. Gaby Lewis took a stunning catch diving forward off Laura Delany's bowling.
During her knock, Harmanpreet achieved a milestone. She became the first Indian women's cricketer to score 3,000 T20I runs. She has 3,006 runs from 135 innings at an average of 27.83 including one century and nine half-centuries. She is fourth on the list of leading run-scorers in T20Is. The list is topped by New Zealand's Bates (3,820 runs), Australian skipper Meg Lanning (3,346 runs) and West Indies' Stafanie Taylor (3,166 runs).
