Harmanpreet has the chance to throw the biggest birthday bash the world has ever seen.
Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur. (Photo: Twitter/@T20WorldCup)
Born on 8 March 1989 in Punjab, Harmanpreet Kaur is currently leading the women’s T20I team in their first-ever final in the shortest format. Harmanpreet had a great fascination towards the game ever since her childhood. However, it wasn’t that easy for her to pursue her career in cricket. She had to fight a lot of troubles both within her home and outside with the society she was part of.
However, there should be no doubts that she has indeed surpassed them all to become a success story that she is today. On her birthday today, Harmanpreet has the chance to throw the biggest birthday bash the world has ever seen with the entire Melbourne Cricket Ground packed and a billion people back in India waiting for a moment that comes so rarely in our sporting history- the tag of being called champions.
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‘Cricket worm’ from her school days
The 31-year-old Harmanpreet is playing international cricket from 10 years. However, the journey from playing in gullies and school to international cricket has not been that easy. In a renowned Chat show ‘Breakfast with Champions’ Harmanpreet revealed various aspects of her personal and professional life.
According to her, she became a cricket worm ever since her school days and she used to play cricket along with the boys in her school during the lunch break. It was then that the school principal noticed her and she asked that a school girls’ cricket team would be made and she would be included in that team.
Used to train during holidays and vacations
Harman has gone on record saying that she never watched live women’s cricket on Television. She didn’t even know that there was a women’s team of the sport in India. However, when Harman’s principal asked her father to let her train for cricket, he agreed. Harman used to practice cricket during the vacations and school days and while some of her fellow mates did use to make fun of her initially, they are indeed really proud of her today.
It was in these practice sessions that Harmanpreet first dream of playing cricket for India.
When she cut her hair short which angered her father
To practice for cricket, Harmanpreet had to go through a lot of changes. She used to struggle with her long hair as they were an obstruction in the practice. So she cut her hair short. However, her father was not impressed with that decision of hers and did not talk to her for nearly three months. Her father did not like her hair cut short but then Harmanpreet convinced him by showing some pictures of women cricketers with short hair.
Boasts of a record that even Virat Kohli cannot
After making her debut for the international team in 2009, Harman has had a decade long career already. She made her first appearance in 2009 against England. Since then, Harmanpreet has played as many as 113 T20Is during which she scored 2182 runs at an average of 27.82 including a ton, something that even Virat Kohli has not managed in his career so far.
International career
The right-handed batsman Harmanpreet Kaur has played as many as 113 T20Is, 99 ODIs and 2 Test matches. In ODI she has scored 2372 runs at an average of 34.88 which includes 3 hundreds and 11 half-centuries. She also has played a couple of Test matches.
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