PUDUCHERRY: Less than 24 hours after the review meeting with the BCCI top brass in Guwahati, Harmanpreet Kaur stepped down as India captain across all formats on Tuesday. The 37-year-old's announcement came following the meeting, where she was told that it was time to pass the leadership baton.
Kaur led India to Women's Asia Cup and Asian Games triumph in the last month and a half and hoped to continue as captain, having expressed her desire to play the LA 2028 Olympics in June. However, the BCCI top brass and the selectors, it is understood, held their position that it was time for the 37-year-old to make way for a smooth transition in captaincy.
Kaur, vice-captain Smriti Mandhana, head coach Amol Muzumdar and BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia were present in the meeting on Monday. Mandhana is set to take over with the squad for the home series against Zimbabwe to be announced in the next few days.
Perhaps the writing was on the wall for Kaur after the early exit in the T20 World Cup in June. It was the second consecutive time India women had crashed out of a T20 WC in the group stages, and calls for a leadership change had begun to gain momentum.
In the months that followed, it only amplified, with Mandhana, the 29-year-old captain-in-waiting, expressing her captaincy ambitions. On Tuesday, it all came to an end. "This is not an easy decision. It carries years of memories, emotions, sacrifices, and moments that will stay with me for the rest of my life. I feel I have done my duty. I gave this team everything I had. I carried the responsibility with pride, and I will always be grateful for the privilege of leading Indian women's cricket," Kaur took to social media and announced her resignation after leading the country for almost a decade.
"I leave the captaincy today with a heart full of emotions, but also with PEACE. Because I genuinely believe my team is in a good place. A team with talent, character, belief and a future that I am incredibly excited to watch and be a part of. I feel I have done my duty. I gave this team everything I had. I carried the responsibility with pride, and I will always be grateful for the privilege of leading Indian women's cricket," she added.
The explosive batter from Moga, Punjab, however, remains an integral part of India's batting unit. "Now, it is time for me to turn the page. Captaincy may end today, but my love for Indian cricket never will. Now, I'm ready to play for the love of the game again. Captaincy ends. The journey continues," wrote the 37-year-old.
While Kaur, the batter, still has time to pile on records and add to her legacy, Harmanpreet, the captain, has her name etched in the history books as the first woman captain to win a World Cup for India. She took over as T20I captain from Mithali Raj after a disappointing 2016 T20 World Cup and led India to two semifinals and a final in the shortest format. In ODIs, Kaur received the captaincy after Mithali's retirement in 2022 and led India to a historic World Cup win in Navi Mumbai last year. In Tests, too, she has remained successful, beating Australia, South Africa and England at home and recently England at Lord's.
The shortest format, however, saw a decline in results as well as her form. Coupled with the rise of Mandhana's stature as a batter and captain in the Women's Premier League (both have two titles each as skippers), questions were raised over Kaur's captaincy after the T20 World Cup exit in June. At the time, Muzumdar had thrown his weight behind Kaur too. But on Monday, it is learnt that Kaur offered to relinquish her T20I captaincy while staying on in the other two formats, but the powers that be did not agree. Eventually, she took to social media to announce that she is stepping down.
As Indian cricket and Kaur turn a new page, it is impossible not to acknowledge her contributions as a captain and leader. Having faced multiple heartbreaks at World Cups — 2017, 2020 finals and 2023 semifinal — Kaur has publicly expressed her desire and desperation to bring that coveted silverware to India. The now-former captain has oftentimes spoken about the desperation to win a World Cup as she feared the possibility of finishing her career without one, and how Kaur and Mandhana spent hours talking about what needed to be done to surpass the final hurdle. It all came together over the month-and-a-half campaign last year as the aggressive batter led India to their first-ever World Cup. For that triumph, the innings against Australia in the semifinal, and the final catch she took against South Africa to end the wait, Kaur, the captain, will always be remembered. For now, Indian cricket would hope that Kaur the batter can help Mandhana take the team forward into a new era.
