Harmanpreet Kaur steps down as India captain with immediate effect

Harmanpreet Kaur has stepped down as captain of the Indian women’s cricket team with immediate effect, ending a leadership stint that spanned a decade and included some of the biggest milestones in the history of Indian women’s cricket.

The 37-year-old took over India’s T20I captaincy in 2016 before becoming the full-time captain across ODIs and Tests in 2022, following Mithali Raj’s retirement. She now leaves the position having achieved a feat shared by only a handful of Indian captains.

The biggest highlight of Kaur’s captaincy came in November last year, when she led India to their first-ever ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup title on home soil. The victory made her only the third Indian captain, after Kapil Dev and MS Dhoni, to win a 50-over World Cup.

Her World Cup triumph also put her in an even more exclusive group of Indian captains to have won a World Cup. She is one of only five, alongside Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav, who captained India to T20 World Cup titles in 2024 and 2026, respectively.

Kaur’s record in T20Is further underlines the scale of her captaincy career. Under her leadership, India reached the semi-finals of the 2018 and 2023 ICC Women’s T20 World Cups and made the final in 2020, where they finished runners-up.

She also established a record that extended beyond Indian cricket. Kaur captained India in 155 T20Is, becoming the first captain in international cricket, male or female, to lead a team in more than 150 matches in the format.

Her final tournament as captain ended with another gold medal for India. The team secured a second consecutive Asian Games gold, following its title-winning campaign in 2023.

Across her captaincy career, Kaur led India in five Tests and 51 ODIs, in addition to her record 155 T20Is.

One of her other notable achievements came at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, where India won the silver medal. Kaur scored 65 runs in the final against Australia, although her effort was not enough to prevent Australia from claiming the gold.

Kaur’s tenure coincided with a period in which Indian women’s cricket continued to expand its reach and ambitions, with the team producing several significant performances on the international stage.

Her biggest legacy will remain India’s maiden Women’s Cricket World Cup title, which came under her leadership on home soil. She also became a two-time Asian Games gold-medal-winning captain and guided India through multiple deep runs in T20 World Cups while setting a record for captaincy appearances in the format.

From taking charge of India’s T20I side in 2016 to lifting the World Cup trophy nearly a decade later, Harmanpreet Kaur leaves the captaincy with a record defined by longevity, landmark victories and a historic World Cup triumph.