Top moments from Harmanpreet Kaur's India captaincy reign

Harmanpreet Kaur confirmed that she is stepping down as India captain in all formats. 

She became India's full-time T20I captain in 2016 and took charge of the ODI side in 2022, with the years that followed full of milestone moments for the team.

Harmanpreet captained India in 211 matches across formats. In September 2026, she became the first captain to lead a side in 150 T20Is, and in 2025, the first captain to lead India to their maiden Women's Cricket World Cup title, joining Kapil Dev and MS Dhoni among the Indian captains who have won the 50-over World Cup.

As a captaincy tenure that was packed with historic feats comes to an end, here's a look at the best moments from Harmanpreet's reign as India's captain.

A World Cup, at last (November 2025)

India lost the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup 2017 Final at Lord's by nine runs, three days after Harmanpreet had played an unbeaten 171 off 115 balls against Australia in the semi-final, the third-highest score in World Cup history. It was India's second final defeat, after 2005.

The disappointment lingered. The home campaign in 2025 saw India register a record chase against the then-reigning champions Australia, who had beaten India by three wickets in the group stage.

In the semi-final at Navi Mumbai on October 30, Australia made 338. India were 59/2 when Harmanpreet and Jemimah Rodrigues came together, and they added 167 before Harmanpreet fell for 89. Rodrigues finished unbeaten on 127, and India reached 341/5 with nine balls to spare, the highest successful chase in women's ODIs.

Harmanpreet ended the tournament as the leading run-scorer in Women's World Cup knockout matches, with 331, one more than Belinda Clark.

Three days later, at the DY Patil Stadium, India beat South Africa by 52 runs. Harmanpreet's smart bowling changes meant India kept the South African chase in check.

Incidentally, it was the captain who took the catch that crowned India champions.

It was India's first World Cup title and the country rejoiced with the team in Navi Mumbai.

Afterwards, Harmanpreet passed the trophy to Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami, the architects of Indian women's cricket whose work she had capped off in style with the World Cup triumph. A moment that will go down as one of Indian cricket's most iconic.

2. Historic maiden Test win at Lord's (July 2026)

Lord's was where India's Cricket World Cup hopes ended in 2017. In July 2026, it gave Harmanpreet's side the stage for something the ground had never seen: a women's Test.

India made the occasion theirs. Harmanpreet's 58 on the first day was the platform for a total of 285, and Kranti Gaud's 5/37 gave India a lead of 115. Yastika Bhatia's 113, the first century by a woman in a Test at Lord's, set up a declaration at 341/7. England, set 457, were bowled out for 186 before lunch on 13 July, and India had won by 270 runs.

It was a captain's win as much as a batting one. Bhatia had been picked for the occasion, and Harmanpreet said afterwards that she was really happy with the way Bhatia batted.

A record 37,846 spectators came across the four days for a women's Test. It was Harmanpreet's fourth Test win in five matches as captain but the most iconic one of the lot.

3. A long-awaited triumph over Australia (December 2023)

India's women had not played a home Test for nine years when England arrived in December 2023, and it was Harmanpreet's first Test as captain. Red-ball cricket was a rarity. Beforehand, she said the challenge was a lack of red-ball cricket, even in the domestic game at home.

India won by 347 runs, the biggest margin by runs in the history of women's Tests and India's first home Test win over England. A week later, at the Wankhede Stadium, they beat Australia by eight wickets. It was India's first Test win over Australia in 11 attempts since 1977, a wait of 46 years.

Harmanpreet said the plan had been to play positive cricket, and she called the win a reward for years of hard work.

4. Successive gold medals at the Asian Games (2022 and 2026)

India did not send a women's cricket team to the Asian Games when the sport featured in 2010 and 2014, and Pakistan won gold both times. In Hangzhou on 25 September 2023, Harmanpreet returned from a two-match suspension to captain India to a 19-run win over Sri Lanka in the final, India's first Asian Games gold in women's cricket.

Three years later, in Aichi-Nagoya on 22 September 2026, she led India to a second, a 147-run win over Sri Lanka and India's first gold of those Games. Harmanpreet said afterwards that the team had started India's gold-medal count and hoped more would follow.

The final became her last match as India captain.

5. A historic first final at the MCG (March 2020)

For years, the T20 World Cup semi-final had been where India's women stopped. They had lost three of them, the last under Harmanpreet in 2018, when England won by eight wickets. In 2020, she took India past that barrier. On February 21, she led them to a 17-run win over the hosts, Australia, in the opening match in Sydney, and India went on to win all four of their group games.

When their semi-final against England was washed out without a ball bowled, they went through on group position to the first T20 World Cup final in their history.

The final itself belonged to Australia, who won by 85 runs, making 184/4 against India's 99. 

A team that had fallen at the semi-final stage three times had reached the final, and the captain who took them there would lead them into another final five years and eight months later in the 50-over format, and win it.

India may not have tasted glory in Melbourne, but the run to the final was a sign of things to come for India under Harmanpreet's captaincy.