India have already lost their ongoing T20I series in South Africa, and their inability to take wickets, especially in the powerplay, is a concern ahead of June’s T20 World Cup. But that doesn’t mean they don’t have anything to celebrate. Their captain Harmanpreet Kaur is in the form of her life in the shortest format and is striking the ball better than ever, which has given them something to pin their tournament hopes on.
After two shaky batting performances in Durban, Harmanpreet led the cause in Johannesburg on Wednesday night where she was India’s top scorer with 66 as they posted their highest total of 192 against South Africa. That it was not enough is another matter. For now, let’s focus on how quickly Harmanpreet got those runs: off 38 balls at a strike rate of 173.68. Hers was a display of strong, confident strokeplay bettered only by her opposite number Laura Wolvaardt and is illustrative of the upward trajectory she has been on.
In 2026, Harmanpreet has played six T20Is, with a strike rate of 142.98, her best in a calendar year by a distance. In 2021, she struck at 128.72 over six matches and in 2018 at 126.28 but in 12 of the other 15 years of her career, her strike rate was under 125. This, more aggressive side to Harmanpreet is as much a result of the changing nature of the women’s game as it is of her ability to adapt to that and her coach thinks she is only getting better.
“She has got a champion mindset, there is no doubt about it,” Amol Muzumdar, India’s head coach said ahead of the fourth match on Saturday. “The world knows it, and knows what a player she has been over her long career. May it continue, that is all I would say. I don’t want to put a marker on it, but I feel that she has played one of the superb knocks in the last game, where she got 66 of 38 balls, and that shot off the back foot over long-off for a six against a left-arm spinner was a hallmark of that innings.”
That particular shot was also Harmanpreet’s first boundary in the game, off the 10th ball she faced, in a tricky period for India. After a good start thanks to a 68-run opening stand, they lost two wickets in two balls to Nonkululeko Mlaba. So first, Harmanpreet had to face Mlaba’s hat-trick ball, which spun away close to her outside edge as she defended successfully. Her first run, a single off her pads, came off Nadine de Klerk and then she was back to facing Mlaba, who then found the outside edge but the ball rolled past the wicketkeeper Sinalo Jafta. It was only when South Africa introduced their second left-arm spinner, Chloe Tryon, that Harmanpreet saw an opportunity to attack. She was on six runs from nine balls when Tryon dropped it short and Harmanpreet hung back in her crease and dispatched it over the boundary. From then, there was no stopping her.
Her next 54 runs came off 28 balls, at a strike rate of nearly 200, as she took the bowling on with purpose. In addition to her seven fours and three sixes, Harmanpreet ran 12 singles and four twos in what was an energetic knock.
“She is hitting it really well, her work ethic has been like a champion,” Muzumdar said. “She is working really hard. We had a superb camp before we came here to South Africa, and everyone in that camp worked hard. I am really happy with the work that has been put in, and Harman is no exception to that. She has been really working hard on her batting and on her fitness.”
The focus on her conditioning comes as Harmanpreet, at 37 years old, approaches what must be the final phase of her career, though there is no indication of which boxes she still wants to tick before she stops. She has already led India to their first World Cup title with the ODI trophy last year and is now eyeing a T20 trophy in England, the same place where she made her name nine years ago.
Harmanpreet’s masterful 171 off 115 balls against Australia in the semi-final of the 2017 ODI World Cup in Derby was the original women’s cricket power knock and Muzumdar is sure she is after a repeat in just under 50 days’ time.
“She’s been a marquee player for a long time, and she has shouldered that responsibility in the middle order. She’s one of the pillars of Indian women’s cricket and she is in a happy space. With Smriti [Mandhana] at the top of the order, Harman middle order, and Richa [Ghosh] and Deepti [Sharma], in the late middle order, that’s been the strength of this team,” Muzumdar said. “She will be happy going to England again and playing some brilliant knocks. We are all looking forward to it and I think she’s all geared up and ready.”
India have two more matches to play in South Africa, on Saturday and Monday, before a three-match series against England in May ahead of the T20 World Cup. India are in Group 1, which includes Pakistan, Netherlands, South Africa, Bangladesh and Australia.
