Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur made cricket history as the first cricketer ever to play 150 T20Is. Kaur achieved the record on Monday when she took the field for India against Ireland in a Women’s T20 World Cup match.
Before Kaur, the highest amount of T20I matches played was 148 by Indian skipper Rohit Sharma. In women’s cricket, the previous highest number of games played in the shortest cricket format was by New Zealand’s Suzie Bates, with 143 appearances.
Among Indian women, vice-captain Smriti Mandhana had the most T20I appearances with 115 games.
Another player who recently made a record for India, aside from Harmanpreet Kaur, was Deepti Sharma. She became the first Indian across the men’s and women’s games to take 100 T20I wickets.
“It means a lot; I got an emotional message from my teammates. Thanks to BCCI and ICC, we are able to play so many games,” Harmanpreet said at the toss when reminded of the milestone she had achieved.
🚨 Milestone Alert 🚨
First woman cricketer to play 1⃣5⃣0⃣ T20Is 🙌 🔝
Congratulations to #TeamIndia captain @ImHarmanpreet on a special landmark 👏 👏#INDvIRE | #T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/X1DyIqhlZI
— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) February 20, 2023
What Did Harmanpreet Kaur Do in the Match?
In addition to reaching her 150th T20I match, Kaur went on to become the first Indian to complete 3000 runs and fourth overall in women’s cricket.
When India played the World Cup match on February 20, India won the toss and elected to bat against Ireland. Because of rain that interrupted the game, India ended up winning against Ireland by 5 runs per the DSL Method.
As a result of this victory, India posted the highest total of the week’s worth of fixtures.
During the match, Harmanpreet came in at No. 3 after Amy Hunter dismissed Shafali Verma for 24. Before Kaur was dismissed for 13 off 20 by Prendergast, Smriti Mandhana had rocketed the team’s scove over 100.
Smriti Mandhana’s 87 formed the backbone of India’s total of 155/6 in 20 overs.
On Ireland’s side, they only managed to reach a total of 54/2 before the rain interrupted the match.
Harmanpreet Kaur’s Post-Match Statements and Previous Achievements
When talking about the match, Kaur said she tried a few shots but “wasn’t able to convert those shots into the boundary.” She also praised Mandhana’s performance.
“Sometimes a player is having a good day, and then, everybody was dropping her catches, and she just wanted to express herself. She told me, ‘better to give me singles than you taking risks,’ and initially, that’s what we did,” she said.
She concluded, “At end of the day, when you win, you feel satisfied, but I think a few areas, especially in batting, we want to sit and discuss how we have to go in the next game.”
Before her T20I achievement, Harmanpreet was awarded the Arjuna Award for Cricket in 2017 by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.
What’s Next in the 2023 World Cup
After India and Ireland’s match, Pakistan and England are competing next on February 21. So far, England has won all of their matches in the tournament and sits at number 1 in the Group 2 standings. Meanwhile, Pakistan has lost two out of their three games and is 4th in the group standings.
The final match for the group stage will be between South Africa and Bangladesh on February 22. The first semi-final match will be on February 23.