Up until the evening of 20th July, Harmanpreet Kaur was a player who was known as a good all-rounder for the rest of the Indian cricket fans. That was until she played a mind-boggling innings against one of the best opposition in the world to catapult India to a strong target. She bludgeoned a 115 ball 171 against the Australians to put India in pole position for a spot in the final.
However, her story hasn’t always been one of success. She had to face a few challenges early on in her career before reaching such a high level.
Small town beater:
Born in Moga, Punjab, Harmanpreet was a shy, timid girl who had a passion for the game thanks to her father’s love. She started out watching the game and then belting the local bowlers despite her small frame.
Her coach, Kamaldish Singh Sodhi started a girl’s cricket team right from scratch and she benefited. She began focusing on her bowling and turned out to be a very good medium pace bowler who could bat a bit. She soon made her debut in the Indian squad and only found out about her debut during a phone call with Punam Raut, another member of the team.
Facing obstacles:
Her stint in the team was challenging at first because she was facing off against the likes of Jhulan Goswami and Amita Sharma for the lead bowling spot. As she couldn’t break through, she decided to focus her energy into her batting.
The move worked and she ended up becoming one of the most aggressive batsmen in the game. Her natural instinct and power came to the fore and she also converted into an off-spin bowler – thus completing her transformation entirely.
Learnt from stalwarts:
During her lean patch, she did not have the motivation to bat much. However, once she viewed Ajinkya Rahane in the practice session and this inspired her to start batting with the right technique and mentality.
She also idolised Virender Sehwag, modelling most of her game around him. So much was her demand post her comeback, she was the first Indian cricketer, male or female to be recruited to the KFC Big Bash T20 League. Harmanpreet ended up winning the Player of the Tournament for her Sydney Thunder squad.
Moving from strength to strength:
A story such as Harmanpreet Kaur can certainly inspire one to never give up or be burdened by obstacles. She managed to tweak her game entirely and chose to focus on positives rather than give up and be daunted by the task ahead of her.
Her innings in the World Cup might just be the catalyst for greater things and Indian cricket is lucky to have a player such as her representing us at the highest level.
