Harmanpreet Kaur is one of the most powerful batswomen in the game today and her ability to hit big sixes makes her stand out from the rest of the more elegant Indian batters over the time. Her biggest moment in WODI cricket came three years ago when she lit the Women’s World Cup in England on fire.
The encounter was against Australia, who were the defending champions, in the semifinals of the 2017 tournament.
"That day my mindset was very different. I've played many internationals but that mindset I walked in with... I wish I could go that way for every game. That would be difficult. To be honest, before the match we're always thinking about the match situation. That day I was only recalling my whole cricketing journey, how I started... it was a different kind of feeling. I just wanted to play freely," she recalls to Cricbuzz In Conversation.
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India knew they had to score big runs when Mithali Raj won the toss and chose to bat first. She herself contributed 36 runs while Deepti Sharma made 25, but the whole innings was carried by Kaur, who slammed 171* in just 115 balls with 20 fours and 7 sixes to her name.
"I was batting with Mithali and we'd put on 50 and were only looking at the scoreboard and thinking we don't have enough runs," she recalled. "That Australia team has batters till No. 9. Even No.9 can come and score a 100. I was telling her [Mithali] if we make 200-250, we can at best take the game to the last over but not win. I wanted to bat freely. She just smiled at me and said 'Look it's risky now, it's only the 16th over. Lots of time to go.' [But] I told her just let me play, we'll see. Once I got that, I didn't look back,” Kaur recalled.
Harmanpreet also realized that only 250 won’t be enough against the elite Australian team.
"The messages I was getting from outside... target 250. I didn't think so. I had played WBBL before... We study and learn a lot. I knew players from that team... They have batters till 9. Other teams, maybe you can get 3-4 players and you're in. Not the same as Australia. I told them please don't give me any messages. If we were targeting 250, then my partner was going slow. We had batting left. Jhulan [Goswami] di were also to come, she is also a power hitter. Let's go all-out. 250 is not going to be enough,” she said.
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To go from 100 to 171, all she needed was 25 more deliveries as India posted a massive 281 on the board. In reply, Australia fell short by 36 runs and crashed out of the tournament.
“I spoke to mom and dad for 2-3 minutes. They didn't say much. When we came back to India, we were depressed about losing a final we should have won. When I got home... only then I opened my messages. It was then that I started feeling that I did something. For 15-16 days, the messages were unrelenting,” Kaur signed off.
Catch Harmanpreet Kaur’s amazing knock of 171* against Australia here
