Harmanpreet Kaur and her journey to becoming India’s greatest T20 star

When all-time great Mithali Raj injured herself ahead of the all-important Asia Cup final in 2012, the Indian team management looked up to a then 23-year-old Harmanpreet Kaur to command the 'Women in Blue'. As it turned out, the result saw her unit emerge victorious in a tense final against arch-rivals Pakistan.

Born in Punjab to a sports enthusiast father, a young Harman took to cricket after joining the Gian Jyoti School Academy, about 30 kilometres away from her family residence. She used to play with boys earlier in her career and has always cited two-time triple centurion Virender Sehwag as her batting inspiration.

With her father, Harmandar Singh Bhullar, being an aspiring cricketer himself, young Kaur was destined to pick up the game.

Fast forward to 2022: Kaur finds herself as one of the game's greats. Her omniscient presence at the crease can often manifest her batting aura. Her consistency defines her class; her leadership commands respect, and her all-around excellence makes her the ultimate meta-cricketer of the Indian team.

Having made her international debut with an ODI in 2009 and her T20I debut the same year, this Punjabi daredevil has plundered various national records in the truncated form of the game. For starters, she scored Indian women's first and only T20I ton when she blazed away the New Zealanders at the 2018 T20 World Cup.

She also guided the Indian team to their best-ever T20 World Cup campaign at the 2020 event. Kaur's high-flying battalion romped their way through to the finals, where, unfortunately, they were upstaged by hosts Australia.

Having been leading India's T20I team for years, the 33-year-old was appointed as India's all-format captain immediately after Mithali Raj's exit from the game in 2022.

Mere two weeks after the legend's retirement, the Indian women's team took a tour to Sri Lanka for a bunch of white-ball games, all under captain Kaur.

Poetically, in her first series as an all-format captain, she broke her predecessor's illustrious batting record to become the highest run-scorer for India in Women's T20I.

In the second T20I of the tour, the 'Women in Blue' upstaged the hosts by five wickets, with Harmanpreet celebrating the occasion with a 'Player of the Match' award.

Moreover, during her 31-run unbeaten knock at Dambulla, she became India's all-time highest run-aggregator in women's cricket, overtaking Raj's retirement tally of 2,364 runs.

Indian women's T20I batting folklore leader, the Punjabi cricketer, is only trailing men's legends Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in the country's overall T20I charts.

Having achieved aplenty at the top level already, the icon of Indian women's cricket will now be looking to scale further heights, both as a batter and, more importantly, as a leader.  

In terms of T20I runs, Harmanpreet Kaur is currently ranked seventh among all women's batters. With age, form, and hunger on her side, it will not be long before the Indian representative would race past the likes of Suzie Bates, Stafanie Taylor, Meg Lanning and Charlotte Edwards of world cricket to claim the ultimate T20I batting throne.

Meanwhile, as the country's all-format captain, her eyes will be locked on the next big prize of the game, the cricketing affair of the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

As cricket makes its debut at the prestigious multinational sporting event: the Commonwealth games. Just a few months after India's underwhelming 2022 World Cup campaign in New Zealand, captain Kaur will be aiming to make her country proud by putting runs to board and past demons to bed.