On this day in 2017: Harmanpreet Kaur’s blistering 171 blows Australia away

On 20th July 2017, Harmanpreet Kaur’s blistering assault blew away the Australian Women’s side in the semi-final of the fifty over World Cup. Kaur scored a ravishing 171* and this innings from her will go down as one of the greatest knocks ever played by a batter in the history of Women’s cricket.

On the day when this magical knock was played by Kaur, the Indian Women’s side won the toss and elected to wield the willow first. And, the Indian innings was just about one single batter, Harmanpreet Kaur. In a match that was reduced to 42 overs, Kaur entered in to bat with the scorecard reading 35/2, and produced a ravishing performance that will not be forgotten.

The right-handed batter scored a 115-ball 171*, and her innings were filled with 20 fours and 7 sixes. Apart from Kaur’s scintillating assault, Mithali Raj and Deepti Sharma contributed vital runs as well. While Raj helped herself to 36, Deepti Sharma scored 25, as India scored 281/4 in their quota of 42 overs.

In reply, the Australian side was never really in the chase and kept losing wickets at regular intervals. While Alex Blackwell scored a stunning 56-ball 90, and Elyse Villani scored 75 off just 58 deliveries, none of the other Australian batswomen stood up. And in the end, the kangaroos were bowled out for a total of 245 and lost the match by a margin of 36 runs.

For India, the pick of the bowlers was Deepti Sharma. Even though she gave away 59 runs in the 7.1 overs that she bowled, she scalped 3 wickets, including the important one of Alex Blackwell. Apart from Sharma, the likes of Shikha Pandey and the experienced Jhulan Goswami picked up 2 wickets apiece.

Needless to say, Harmanpreet Kaur won the Player of the Match award for her resplendent innings. Four years have passed since that epic day, but this knock from Harmanpreet Kaur will continue to remain fresh in the minds of cricket fans for eternity.