India vs Sri Lanka: Harmanpreet Kaur creates history in T20 format, becomes ‘number one’ in this record

Thiruvananthapuram (The Uttam Hindu): Indian women’s cricket team captain Harmanpreet Kaur has created history in the T20 format by becoming the joint top Indian player with the most Player of the Match awards. She has now equalled Mithali Raj, with both players winning the honour 12 times each. In the list of Indian women cricketers, Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana jointly hold the second position with eight awards each.

Harmanpreet achieved this milestone during the fifth T20 match against Sri Lanka at the Greenfield International Stadium. She played a crucial knock of 68 runs off 43 balls, which included one six and nine fours. At a time when India had lost five wickets for 77 runs, Harmanpreet shared a vital 61-run partnership with Amanjot Kaur to stabilise the innings.

Meanwhile, Shafali Verma, who scored the highest runs in the five-match series, was named Player of the Series. The 21-year-old accumulated 241 runs at an impressive average of 80.33. This was the third time Shafali won the Player of the Series award, making her the joint number one Indian in this category. Apart from Shafali, Mithali Raj, Harmanpreet Kaur and Deepti Sharma have also won the award three times each.

Talking about the match, India posted 175 runs for the loss of seven wickets in 20 overs. Captain Harmanpreet Kaur was the top scorer with 68 runs, while Amanjot Kaur contributed 21 runs and Arundhati Reddy remained unbeaten on 27. In reply, Sri Lanka managed 160 runs for seven wickets in their allotted overs. Opener Hasini Perera scored 65 runs, while Imeesha Dulani added 50 runs. India won the match by 15 runs and completed a 5-0 clean sweep of the series.