Harmanpreet Kaur Archives

Harmanpreet Kaur imitates Lionel Messi after Women’s World Cup victory

Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur imitated Argentine football star Lionel Messi in a heartfelt social media post after her team won the ICC Women’s World Cup 2025.

A day after India defeated South Africa in a thrilling final at the Dr DY Patil Sports Academy, Kaur shared a heartfelt post on Instagram that quickly went viral.

In the picture, the Indian captain can be seen peacefully sleeping beside the World Cup trophy, a gesture reminiscent of Messi’s viral photo after leading Argentina to FIFA World Cup glory in 2022.

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Donning a white T-shirt with the line, “Cricket is ~~a gentleman’s~~ EVERYONE’s game,” with the word ‘gentleman’s’ struck out, Harmanpreet Kaur sent out a message about inclusivity in sport.

“Some dreams are shared by a billion people. That’s why cricket is everyone’s game,” she captioned the post.

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A post shared by Harmann (@imharmanpreet_kaur)

With this win, India became only the fourth nation in the 52-year history of the Women’s ODI World Cup to lift the prestigious title.

The first edition took place in 1973, where England defeated Australia to become the inaugural champions.

Since then, Australia have dominated the competition with seven titles, including a hat-trick of wins between 1978 and 1989, while England follow with four championships (1973, 1993, 2009, and 2017).

New Zealand, the 2001 champions, were the only other team to have won the tournament before India’s triumph.

READ: Babar Azam shares heartfelt message after T20I series triumph

ICC suspends Harmanpreet Kaur for Code of Conduct breach

India’s women’s cricket captain Harmanpreet Kaur was banned for two matches by the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Tuesday for her verbal swipe at umpires and on-field behaviour against Bangladesh.

Harmanpreet Kaur was also fined 75 percent of her match fee by the game’s apex body.

She admitted “showing dissent at an umpire’s decision” and “public criticism in relation to an incident occurring in an international match”, the ICC said in a statement, adding that she accepted her punishment.

The team India all-rounder hit the stumps after being given out on 14 in the one-day international on Saturday — which ended in a rare tie — and later called the umpiring “pathetic”.

She was heard telling her Bangladeshi counterpart Nigar Sultana to invite the umpires on stage after the post-match presentation, forcing the Bangladesh players to opt out of a joint photo session.

Harmanpreet Kaur is one of the biggest stars in the women’s game in India, which launched a women’s equivalent of the money-spinning Indian Premier League earlier this year.

The 34-year-old is seen as an aggressive leader and dependable batter, and captained the Mumbai Indians to victory in the inaugural edition of the T20 tournament.

“I have been watching cricket for a long time, but have never seen anyone behave that way,” former women’s captain Diana Edulji wrote in her column in the Indian Express on Tuesday.

“She has set a bad example for her teammates,” Edulji said.

“It was deplorable to see Harmanpreet call the umpires to pose with the Bangladesh team, suggesting that they were part of the team and playing for them.”

Indian men’s World Cup winner Madan Lal also blasted Harmanpreet Kaur.

“Harmanpreet’s behaviour against the Bangladesh women’s team was pathetic,” Lal tweeted.

“She is not bigger than the game. She got a very bad name for Indian cricket.”

India’s own cricket authorities “should take very strict disciplinary action”, he added.

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All-rounder Kaur propels India to seal T20I series victory over Sri Lanka

DAMBULLA: Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur starred with her brilliant all-round performance that assisted her side to defeat Sri Lanka in the second Women’s T20I to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the ongoing series.

In a low-scoring thriller, Indian batters held their nerves calm as they amassed a 126-run target with five wickets and as many balls to spare to claim the series victory.

In the run chase, the touring side’s openers provided a solid start to the side as the duo of Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma added 30 runs for the first wicket before Verma fell short against Oshadi Ranasinghe in the fourth over.

The right-handed batter Sabbhineni Meghana then joined Mandhana at the crease and carried on the proceedings for the touring side. Her stay, however, was cut short as she perished in the sixth over after scoring a quick 17 off 10 deliveries.

Mandhana then joined hands with her skipper Kaur and anchored the run chase with an important 38-run partnership for the third wicket. The opening batter, who was looking solid for her half-century, fell 11 short of it as Inoka Ranaweera bagged her first wicket.

The left-handed batter remained the top-scorer for her side with a magnificent 39 off 34 balls, laced with eight boundaries.

Following her departure, the touring side lost two quick wickets and was soon slipped from 86-2 to 114-5 in the 18th over but Kaur’s gritty knock helped the team march towards the finishing line. The skipper remained unbeaten on 31 off 32 balls and made sure to steer her side to the victory.

For Sri Lanka, Ranaweera and Kashiva Dilhari struck twice, while Sugandika Kumari made one scalp.

Batting first, the home side was off to a flying start as their opening pair of Vishmi Gunaratne and the skipper Chamari Athapaththu put on an astounding 87-run opening stand before the latter lost her way in the 14th over after scoring 43 off 41 balls with the help of seven boundaries and a six.

Garunaratne, who was struggling to score freely, also fell briefly after Athapaththu’s dismissal as he made her way back in the 17th over. She remained the top scorer for her side with a rather slow 45.

Following her departure, the home side began to lose wickets at an alarming with none of their rest batters could score in the double-figure as the Indian bowlers managed to restrict Sri Lanka to 125/7 in the allotted 20 overs.

For India, Deepti Sharma made two scalps, while Renuka Singh, Radha Yadav, Pooja Vastrakar, and Kaur struck out a batter each.

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