Batter, leader – Harmanpreet delivers for champions MI
The skipper timed her batting surge perfectly to help her side land their second WPL title
The Brabourne Stadium was still buzzing when Mumbai Indians (MI), freshly crowned Women’s Premier League (WPL) winners for a second time in front of their home fans, took a lap of honour. Among the last faces in that champions’ crowd was Harmanpreet Kaur, the skipper walking a tad slower, behind the exuberant pace-setters. Moments later, she sprang a couple of steps forward and leapt to embrace Jhulan Goswami and the two held that pose for a few seconds.
As champions of the inaugural season who came up just short in the Eliminator last year, Harmanpreet was eager to recreate such scenes and bring MI back to where she believed they belonged. For that, she knew a few tweaks had to be made — within the team and in herself as a batter.
It brought out the best of MI as a unit, and Harmanpreet as a match-winner and clutch player. In MI’s hectic final home stretch that featured four games in six days, the last two being high-pressure knockouts, Harmanpreet’s scores read 54 (33b), 20 (18b), 36 (12b) and 66 (44b).
After a bit of a subdued start to the season, Harmanpreet stepped up when it mattered, and signed off with her best WPL outing in terms of runs (302) and strike rate (155).
Like world-class players often do, she saved her best for the last against Delhi Capitals. Reading the match situation and conditions brilliantly in the company of Nat Sciver-Brunt, Harmanpreet rode the early storm without going into her shell. She picked the right time (once Marizanne Kapp had been bowled out) and the bowlers (Annabel Sutherland and Jess Jonassen) to counterattack. From being 10 off her first 14 balls, she ended up scoring 56 off the next 30.
“We tried to keep things simple, and whoever was there took calculated risks at that time,” Harmanpreet said at the presentation ceremony.
Those calculated risks came about frequently and a lot earlier into her innings this season. Her strike rate of 155, up from 141 in 2024, and 135 in 2023, reflected that. In last year’s Eliminator chasing 136 against RCB, Harmanpreet made a watchful 30-ball 33. The moment she got out in the 18th over, MI fumbled. That defeat had stung.
“We had a long chat then and before starting this season (we discussed) that one of Nat and Harman should be there throughout the innings,” Devieka Palshikaar, MI’s batting coach, said earlier this week. “She practices a lot against spin and pace. It is very focused practice, where she knows she needs to be there till the end.”
Charlotte Edwards, MI’s head coach, said conversations with Harmanpreet this year largely revolved around “being aggressive” and “putting pressure on the bowlers”.
“When she’s at her best, she’s among the best in the world, as we’ve seen in the last couple of games,” she told reporters.
Harmanpreet is also at her best when she has a solid supporting cast around her. That’s where Sciver-Brunt’s WPL record 523 runs at No.3 and Hayley Matthews’s 307 runs at the top made the difference. That’s also where critical cameos down the order from Amanjot Kaur (14 off 7 in the final), G Kamalini (10 off 7) and Sajeevan Sajana helped.
“To have that kind of experience around her (Sciver-Brunt and Matthews), it really frees her up to play the way she has played, certainly in the last week,” said Edwards.
The last week brought out the best of Harmanpreet the batter, leader, competitor, and more importantly for MI, clutch player.
“She’s deeply competitive, and she really wanted to win another title,” Edwards said on Saturday. “Tonight she did everything in her power to do that, didn’t she?”
