ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026: Harmanpreet Kaur prepares for historic 200th T20I against South Africa
The 37-year-old, who has been an ever-present in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cups, will lead her team to beat South Africa at Old Trafford in a tough match in Group A. Kaur made her T20I debut 17 years ago in the 2009 T20 World Cup edition in England and will achieve a historic feat when she takes the field against South Africa in Manchester, ICC Media said.
India bowling coach Aavishkar Salvi paid tribute to the captain and noted the role he played in shaping the development of the players around him.
“I think Harman is a top-level athlete,” he said. He is a role model for almost all cricketers around the world. The way he handled himself over the years was a role model from start to finish. He was an artist in every format. He’s playing his 200th T20, that’s a big thing. And we’re all excited to watch him perform.”
“And he continues to work on the fundamentals in terms of work ethic. He shares a lot of experience with young people. So that’s an aspect where he comes in. There’s a lot of information available at times, but these little little points coming from someone who has performed so well at the highest level, he shares with the players and actually helps lift the careers of a lot of young people,” he added.
Having been around for so long, Kaur’s opponents in South Africa on Sunday are well aware of the threat she still poses.
This is none other than all-rounder Chloe Tryon, who was a teammate with Mumbai Indians in the Women’s Premier League but is now a foe on the international stage. She said: “200 games is a lot. He makes everything easier. I had the opportunity to play with him, to watch him do his job. It was extraordinary to watch his journey when I was a little girl myself, just admiring the great players. He became a role model for so many people around the world.” It’s really good to see him still playing cricket and leading from the front. “Hopefully she can get another 200, I don’t know, but look, it’s great to see how the women’s game is growing and how it’s pushing the game forward.”
South Africa return to Manchester needing a win after losing to Australia in the opener at the same venue before beating Pakistan in a close encounter at Edgbaston.
Meanwhile, India have won the two matches they have played so far, beating Pakistan and the Netherlands.
However, the fifth-placed Proteas have two spots above them in the ICC Women’s T20I Team Rankings in recent encounters between the team.
South Africa dominated the five-match series, winning 4-1 at home, but Salvi believes India are better in this regard.
He said: “Actually, the five matches we played in South Africa taught us a lot. Especially when you lose the series, you think about it a lot and find gray areas that we need to work on. And I think as a bowling unit, as a whole group, they discussed a lot of things among themselves and with us and came to the conclusion of where we went wrong and we addressed that in the camps and the matches.”
Likewise, Tryon looks to balance focusing on the task at hand by capitalizing on the positives of their series win as they face a de facto quarter-final.
“Fate is in our hands,” he said.
“We know how important this game is for us and we can’t think about it too much. We can take the points we got against them in the 4-1 series win at home, that’s what really works for us as a group, but let’s not dwell on that too much. Going to the World Cup is different, there’s a lot of pressure on us and we know it’s like a quarter-final, so fate is in our hands and how do we make sure we play our best cricket,” he added.
