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During the India-Sri Lanka match in Dubai, Harmanpreet Kaur, who had been slouching on her chair and rubbing her neck, suddenly snatched up two bats and sprinted down the steps from the gallery to a broader region around the boundary edge. This happened as the buzzer hooted to announce drinks.
With one bat tucked beneath the other, Harmanpreet completed her swing while concentrating on her neck position and movements. She went through the entire range of motions that she would practise at the driving range. Harmanpreet promptly rushed back up and pulled up a chair next to coach Amol Muzumdar after realising she was satisfied with her current position.
Harmanpreet was fully fired, smacking the bat with her gloves when Mandhana rocked back to bring Chamari Athapaththu to the deep-square-leg fence in the 13th over, bringing up her half-century. In the thirteenth over, Harmanpreet took over at number three after Mandhana was run out.
India had attempted up to five different choices for this place since Muzumdar took over as coach in December 2023, and it had become such a hot topic in the run-up to the tournament that she raised her hand and chose to take on the job. Now that nearly everything was at stake, it was time for her to live up to the talk.
For India to avoid the net run rate discussions, at least for the time being, they needed to win, big time. The captain of India then delivered a blockbuster, the kind of game you knew she could play but hadn’t seen her play as often as she would have liked.
Observing Harmanpreet bat without the pressure of a scoreboard and seeing her terrorise the bowlers is part of what makes her so captivating. She swiftly snaps to attention with a crouching back knee that builds her foundation, then quickly triggers movement to off, where she positions herself to sweep. Then, as she produces tremendous power, the bat swing synchronises. In her hands, the bat suddenly seems like a sledgehammer.
All in all, the innings on Wednesday weren’t perfect. After trying to paddle her first two deliveries, she soon decided that it would be wiser to try to force the tempo herself because the bowlers were offering her little to work with. She was nearly knocked out during a planned sweep, but UltraEdge’s thin edge kept her alive.
Harmanpreet was on 4 off 7 with five overs remaining, battling with timing and not quite adjusted to the pace and grip of the ground, which made it difficult to score against spinners. And Sugandika Kumari gave her a full toss, which freed her. It felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders as she stepped out to drill it across the infield; she had switched on the “in the zone” mode.