Harmanpreet Kaur wins gold in Asian Games 2023 in her 100th T20I match as India captain

After serving her two-match ban, Harmanpreet Kaur returned to play in the gold medal match for India against Sri Lanka in Hangzhou, China. This was the 100th time the Punjab batter was captaining India in a T20I.

The momentous occasion was made all the more special as India won the gold medal for the first time, beating the Lankan Lions by 19 runs in a low-scoring encounter.

Harmanpreet played her last international game earlier this year against Bangladesh in the third and final ODI in Dhaka. She was controversially dismissed and went into an altercation with the on-field umpire. During the post-match presentation, Harmanpreet lambasted the level of umpiring. The experienced campaigner was handed a two-international match ban and fined 25 per cent of her match fee by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for her outburst at the umpires 

This is why she couldn’t play in the first couple of matches in the Asian Games 2023. Smriti Mandhana led the ‘Women in Blue’ commendably and took them through to the final. Harmanpreet returned to the side in place of Kanika Ahuja and decided to bat first after winning the toss on a sluggish pitch with uneven bounce.

Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues formed a 73-run partnership off 67 balls and gave India a good platform. However, the batters who followed couldn’t get accustomed to the difficult conditions. After the Smriti-Jemimah partnership was broken, India added just 27 runs in the remaining 31 balls and lost five more wickets.

Chasing 117 for a win, young Titas Sadhu drew first blood as she dismissed Anushka Sanjeewani in the third over. Vishmi Gunaratne also departed in the same over. Sri Lankan captain Chamari Athapaththu was going to be the key but she fell for 12 in the fifth over as Sadhu bagged her third wicket.

Hasini Perera, Nilakshi de Silva, and Oshadi Ranasinghe tried their best to take their team close to the target. However, Harmanpreet, who got out cheaply with the bat, rotated her bowlers tactfully and exerted a lot of pressure. In the end, India emerged victorious by 19 runs. Sadhu was the star of the show as she finished with mind-boggling figures of 3/6 in her four overs.