GUWAHATI: Harmanpreet Kaur has stepped down as captain of the Indian women's cricket team in all three formats, All India Radio reported on October 6. The 37-year-old announced her decision after a review meeting of the Board of Control for Cricket in India in Guwahati, and will continue to play for India in all formats.
The decision comes days after she led India to the Asian Games gold in Aichi-Nagoya, where the women beat Sri Lanka by 147 runs in the final to retain the title they won at Hangzhou in 2023.
Harmanpreet captained India in five Tests, 51 One Day Internationals and 155 Twenty20 Internationals, according to All India Radio. She had led the T20 side since 2016 and took charge of the ODI team in 2022. Last year, she led India to their first Women's ODI World Cup title.
Her captaincy came under scrutiny after India's exit from the Women's T20 World Cup in England in June. India lost to South Africa and then to Australia, by six wickets on June 29, and went out in the group stage, Outlook reported. It was the second T20 World Cup in a row in which India failed to reach the knockouts under her leadership.
Outlook also noted that she had passed 50 only four times in 24 T20 innings since the 2024 T20 World Cup, and that India dropped 10 catches during the tournament, the third-worst tally of any team. Asked at the time whether Harmanpreet should continue as captain, head coach Amol Muzumdar said: "It's up to the selectors to decide the captain... My short and sweet answer would be yes."
The selectors kept her. On June 30, the BCCI named her captain of the 15-member squad for the Asian Games, held from September 19 to October 4, with Smriti Mandhana continuing as vice-captain, The Pioneer reported. The only change from the World Cup squad was wicketkeeper-batter G Kamalini replacing Yastika Bhatia, and all-rounder Shreyanka Patil, who hurt her ankle at the World Cup, was included subject to fitness clearance.
Despite the early exit, India had already secured a place at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics as the highest-ranked Asian team at the World Cup, the newspaper reported.
The Asian Games went to plan. The women retained their title, part of a clean sweep in which India won both the men's and women's gold medals in cricket, hockey and kabaddi. India finished fourth on the overall medal table with 85 medals, 21 of them gold.
All India Radio did not report the reasons Harmanpreet gave for stepping down, and the BCCI has not named her successor. Mandhana was vice-captain for the Asian Games.
The Asian Games squad gives a picture of the core of the team: Harmanpreet, Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues and Richa Ghosh in the batting, and Deepti Sharma, Renuka Thakur, Sree Charani, Arundhati Reddy, Radha Yadav and Nandni Sharma in the bowling, with Bharti Fulmali, Kranti Gaud and the second wicketkeeper, G Kamalini, completing the 15. Left-arm spinner Sree Charani was the team's standout performer at the T20 World Cup, taking 14 wickets in five matches at an economy rate of 5.85, according to Outlook.
Whoever takes over will start with the team holding both the ODI world title and the Asian Games gold, and with an Olympic place already secured for 2028.
