How many T20 World Cups has Harmanpreet Kaur been part of? If this trivia question is asked, the answer would be six. Now, that just capsulises the kind of experience the India skipper brings to the table.
However, if another trivia question is asked about Harmanpreet, you may not exactly get an answer that shows her in a good light. How has she performed in those six World Cups? She has scored 576 runs at an average of just over 20. To her credit, those runs include a superlative hundred versus New Zealand in the World Cup played in the West Indies in 2018-19, where she also averaged a noteworthy 45.75. But in the rest of the five T20 World Cups, she ended up averaging 4, 14, 8.66, 6, and 23.6.
As an outsider, it is difficult to gauge what exactly could have gone wrong for Harmanpreet over so many World Cups. But if layers are peeled, you might get an idea of the crux of her failures. Maybe it has to do with the fact that as the captain and senior player of the side, Harmanpreet feels she has to shoulder a lot more responsibility. In that process, she ends up putting too much pressure on herself. In such a situation, Harmanpreet’s bottom-hand probably becomes a bit too tight and she struggles to find her timing.
There is not a great deal of evidence to support the above-mentioned hypothesis. But her averages in WBBL and T20Is are higher — 37.89 and 28.08 — compared to T20 World Cups. The same can be said of her strike rates. Somewhere, it indicates that Harmanpreet probably plays with more freedom outside of World Cups. Whatever be the reason, she would be hoping to make amends with a willow in hand in the 2024 T20 edition in the UAE.
There is another facet of Harmanpreet’s game that needs to be discussed — bowling. It is interesting to note that the captain hasn’t bowled a single delivery in the shortest format in her last 43 appearances. In reality, she is more than a useful part-time off-spinner, having bagged 32 wickets at an average of 24.84 in T20Is, with best figures of 4 for 23. Maybe it is time for Harmanpreet to roll her arm over again in the shortest format.
At 35, Harmanpreet isn’t getting any younger. If she has to fulfil her dream of hoisting the World Cup, it is imperative that she lifts her game by a few notches. The Indian think-tank and legions of fans would hope and pray for Harmanpreet to find her mojo in the mega event.