Harmanpreet Kaur’s dream 2025 continues as India captain breaks Meg Lanning’s big T20I record

Harmanpreet Kaur created history by guiding India to an impressive eight-wicket win against Sri Lanka at the Greenfield Cricket Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday (December 26). This victory ensured the Women in Blue a series victory in their first international tournament after the World Cup victory.

Harmanpreet was not left out as India secured the match with 40 balls remaining, with Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma and Renuka Thakur shining brightly. While Shafali scored an unbeaten 79 off 42 balls, Renuka and Deepti took four and three wickets respectively.

Harmanpreet Kaur makes history

Harmanpreet broke the world record for most wins by a captain by leading India to victory for the 77th time in a T20I match. She surpassed the long-held record of Australian cricket icon Meg Lanning, who is known as the most successful captain in cricket history.

Harmanpreet captained India in 130 matches; this is the highest number for any captain. He is one of only three captains, along with Lanning and today’s rival captain Chamari Athapaththu, to have led a team more than 100 times in the shortest format.

This achievement marks the most wins by a captain in the shortest format across all genders; Indian cricket legend Rohit Sharma tops the men’s T20I list with 50 wins.

During this series, Harmanpreet became the first captain to achieve 15 wins against a single opponent. With three wins so far, he has 16 wins against Sri Lanka.

Harmanpreet became the most capped player in Women’s T20I history by playing 185 matches for India in this format. She is followed by Danni Wyatt (178), Suzie Bates (177) and Ellyse Perry (168).

Harmanpreet’s record-breaking feat in the T20 format came less than two months after she claimed India’s maiden ICC tournament victory by leading India to the World Cup title in the 50-over format.

After the victory in the third T20I, Harmanpreet expressed her satisfaction with her team’s performance, stating that it will position them well for the Women’s T20 World Cup to be held in 2026.

“It was a great series for all of us. When we got together after the World Cup we discussed this: we have to raise our standards. Be a little more aggressive in T20, we all know the T20 World Cup is coming, this is the right time to push ourselves, I’m really happy with our overall performance,” he said.

“If you keep ticking all the boxes in your bowling department, your chances of winning the game increase. We are where we are today because of our bowlers. Credit goes to our entire bowling line-up for bowling in this series,” he added.

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