India’s T20I captain, Harmanpreet Kaur became the first Indian cricketer to play 100 Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) as she took the field against South Africa in the 6th T20I of the ongoing series in Surat on Friday. Harmanpreet Kaur achieved this milestone before MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma, who have played 98 T20Is each for India.
Harmanpreet Kaur made her debut against England in Taunton back in June 2009. The all-rounder has taken 27 wickets and scored 2,003 runs at an average of 28.61 so far in T20Is. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) took to Twitter to post a video where the head coach of the team WV Raman presented a special cap to the Indian skipper to congratulate her on the achievement. The tweet says, “A special cap for captain @ImHarmanpreet to mark her 100th T20I for #TeamIndia #INDvSA.”
On the overall list, New Zealand’s Suzie Bates, Australian Ellyse Perry, and Pakistan’s Shoaib Malik lead the pack with 111 T20I appearances each. While Malik is the only man to have featured in 100 T20Is, 10 women (including Kaur) have now played 100 or more shortest-format games for their respective countries.
Talking about the ongoing series, India produced a clinical performance to take an unassailable lead of 3-0 in the six-match series. India won the first match after which the next two matches were washed out due to rain in Surat. The fourth T20I also started late due to inclement weather and was reduced to 17-over per side game. India won that match comfortably by 51 runs.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, India was in trouble chasing a small total of 99. At one stage, the hosts were 29 for three but Harmanpreet Kaur showed composure in the middle and remained unbeaten on 34 to take India across the line against South Africa.
The Indian captain was exceptional with the ball as well as she bowled three overs for just 13 runs and took an important wicket of Laura Wolvaardt, who was looking dangerous at one stage.
For her all-round brilliance, Harmanpreet Kaur was adjudged player of the match in the fifth T20I.
