Former captain Harmanpreet Kaur struggled to keep her emotions in check after a sizzling 91 not out off 41 balls, setting up India’s commanding 92-run win over Zimbabwe in the third and final T20I on Tuesday. Shafali Verma made an entertaining 69 off 37 balls before Harmanpreet returned to her destructive best to power India 216 for seven. On expected lines, Zimbabwe could not get anywhere near the massive target and and ended at 124 for seven in 20 overs, with India taking the series 3-0. The two teams will now head to Vadodara for a three-match ODI series starting on October 23.
The game marked the return to form for Harmanpreet, who was struggling for runs of late and stepped down as captain ahead of the Zimbabwe series.
Harmanpreet Kaur score is the highest for India in a women’s T20I at home, surpassing Smriti Mandhana’s previous best of 80 last year against Sri Lanka.
Harmanpreet score is the highest for India in a women’s T20I at home, surpassing Smriti Mandhana’s previous best of 80 last year against Sri Lanka. For that very purpose, she made way for Anushka Sharma (28 off 20) to open the batting alongside Shafali, who scored a second consecutive half-century to lead India’s charge. The 37-year-old had not found her groove on the slow pitches of the Women’s T20 Asia Cup and did not get a lot of batting time in the team’s triumphant Asian Games campaign in Japan.
Even though it came against a lower-ranked team, the knock would provide Harmanpreet much-needed confidence ahead of the important assignments, including the inaugural six-team ICC Women’s Champions Trophy in the shortest format at home early next year. Not many strike the ball as well as Harmanpreet does and that is what she exhibited in her statement innings. Captain Smriti Mandhana opted to bat with an aim to give more batters time in the middle.
