On 2 November 2025 at the DY Patil Stadium, Harmanpreet Kaur stood at the top of a podium India had been climbing towards for 48 years. Her side had posted 298-7 and bowled South Africa out for 246 in 45.3 overs — a 52-run win, a maiden Women’s Cricket World Cup, and the first global title of any kind for Indian women’s cricket. Deepti Sharma had taken 5-39, the first five-wicket haul in a Women’s World Cup final; Shafali Verma made 87 off 78 balls and was named player of the match.
Eleven months later, on 6 October 2026, following a BCCI review meeting in Guwahati, Harmanpreet relinquished the captaincy across all three formats. Smriti Mandhana, 30, was confirmed as her successor the same day. “This is not an easy decision,” Harmanpreet said. “It carries years of memories, emotions, sacrifices, and moments that will stay with me for the rest of my life.” She remains available for selection as a player.
From Derby to DY Patil
Harmanpreet’s legacy was secured eight years before the trophy. At Derby on 20 July 2017, with India 35-2 in the ninth over of a World Cup semi-final against Australia, she made 171 not out from 115 balls — 20 fours, seven sixes, a second fifty off 26 deliveries and a third off 17. India made 281-4 and won by 36 runs. It is still the highest individual score in the knockout stage of any Women’s World Cup, and it did something no administrative initiative had managed: it put women’s cricket on Indian front pages.
That innings is the hinge of the whole story. The 2017 final defeat at Lord’s created an audience; the Women’s Premier League, the broadcast deals and the pay parity agreements followed; and the players who won in 2025 were teenagers watching in 2017. Harmanpreet is the rare captain whose single defining performance pre-dates her leadership and arguably mattered more than it.
The captaincy ledger
She led India in 211 internationals — 155 T20Is, 51 ODIs and five Tests. She took the T20 job in 2016 and inherited the ODI side in 2022 after Mithali Raj’s retirement, becoming the全-format leader at a point when India had never won a senior global trophy. Her tenure is best read through its landmarks:
- 2025 ODI World Cup — India’s first world title, won at home
- Asian Games gold in 2022 and again in September 2026, beating Sri Lanka in the final
- Women’s Asia Cup, retained in 2026
- A 270-run win over England at Lord’s in July 2026, the first women’s Test staged at the ground, where Yastika Bhatia became the first woman to score a Test century there
Her own numbers carry the same weight: 4,541 ODI runs at 37.22 with seven centuries, 4,249 T20I runs at 30.13, and 304 runs in eight Tests. She passed 4,000 T20I runs against England in May 2026 and played her 350th international in December 2025. Few cricketers of either sex have given a national side 15 years at that volume.
The criticism was never about the medals. India under Harmanpreet were volatile — capable of dismantling England at Lord’s and of batting collapses that cost them tournaments, and her on-field temper drew a formal sanction in Bangladesh in 2023. The Guwahati review assessed a trajectory, not a trophy cabinet, and the timing — a year after the World Cup, with a transition still to be managed — suggests the board wanted the change made from a position of strength rather than during a crisis.
What Mandhana inherits
Mandhana is not an experimental appointment. She is the leading run-scorer in the history of women’s international cricket, having passed Mithali Raj’s mark, and holds the record for most centuries across formats with 18. She debuted in 2013, has captained in 18 T20Is and four ODIs as Harmanpreet’s deputy, and has won two WPL titles with Royal Challengers Bengaluru. “To be given the responsibility of leading India is a very special honour,” she said.
Her task is different from her predecessor’s. Harmanpreet took over a side that had to prove it could win; Mandhana takes over one expected to. The squad is also mid-turnover — Deepti Sharma, Shafali Verma and Sneh Rana are in their prime, but the next five years will require replacing Harmanpreet’s middle-order experience while defending a world title in Australasian conditions.
Harmanpreet’s framing of her own exit was characteristically unfussy. “I feel I have done my duty,” she said. “Captaincy may end today, but my love for Indian cricket never will.” On the evidence of 2017 and 2025, the debt runs the other way.
Sports journalist and editor at SportsPortal.net. Covers cricket, football, Formula 1, tennis, and basketball with a focus on how global sports connect with Pakistani audiences. Follows the PSL, Pakistan national cricket team, Premier League, and major international tournaments. Has reported on sports for digital audiences since 2021.
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