Harmanpreet Kaur scored a historic ton to help India start their ICC World T20 campaign with an impressive 34-run win over New Zealand. The India skipper slammed 103 as India posted a mammoth 195 for 5 – their highest-ever total in the competition.
In reply, New Zealand rarely threatened to outscore India. They were in with a slight chance when Suzie Bates was batting. However, once she departed after scoring 67, there was no way back for the Kiwis. They were eventually restricted for 160 for 9.
With the game done and dusted, we take a look at all the milestones and record achieved by Harmanpreet Kaur.
1. Harmanpreet now has holds the record of highest individual score by an Indian in women T20Is. She broke her predecessor Mithali Raj’s record who had scored 97 not out against Malaysia earlier this year.
2. The India skipper now also has the record of India’s highest individual score in the World T20 to her name. She broke her record only when she made 77 off 59 balls against Bangladesh in the 2014 World T20.
3. Harmanpreet’s eight-sixes helped her equal the second-most in a women’s T20I innings. West Indies’ Deandra Dottin had hit nine sixes against South Africa in a T20I in 2010 which is the highest individual tally. New Zealand’s Sophie Devine had hit eight sixes against India in a T20I in 2015. The eight sixes in this innings are also the most by an Indian T20Is. Harmanpreet beat her own record of five sixes which she hit against Sri Lanka in September.
4. Harmanpreet scored at a strike-rate of 305.88 in the final five overs. She scored an unbelievable 52 runs off just 17 deliveries in the final 5 overs. Forty of those runs came just from boundaries as she overcame a slow start to reach her ton off just 49 deliveries. She had managed to score just 5 off the first 13 balls.
5. Her overall strike-rate in the innings was 201.96 which is the third-highest in an innings of 50 or more runs in the Women’s World T20. Only Dottin has struck faster in the tournament history. Harmanpreet’s strike rate is the best by an India batsman in a score of 50 or more in all T20Is.
6. Riding on Harmanpreet Kaur’s breathtaking ton, India piled up the highest-ever total in World T20, surpassing Australia’s 191 for 4.