Harmanpreet Kaur has resigned as India captain from all formats of the game. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) conducted a review meeting of the Indian women’s team in Guwahati on Monday, with Harmanpreet, vice-captain Smriti Mandhana and head coach Amol Muzumdar in attendance. The meeting, presided over by BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia, came on the back of calls for the removal of captain Harmanpreet.
With the team having done well lately, the discussions should have been on the way forward but it is learnt that the agenda of the meeting was about Harmanpreet’s future as captain as well as the future of coach Amol Muzumdar. Hours later, it emerged that she announced her resignation from all formats of the game.
Diana Edulji welcomed Harmanpreet’s decision. “It is a good decision she has taken in the interest of the future of women’s cricket, by giving enough time to the new captain and the team to gel under her captaincy. As Mr Gavaskar has always said, people should ask ‘why’ and not ‘why not’. I wish her all the best for her future. She has a few years left, whichever format she chooses to play. She should enjoy the remaining time in her career,” the former India captain, who had been demanding her resignation, told Cricbuzz.
Calls for the removal of Harmanpreet started after the Women’s T20 World Cup earlier this year, in which India failed to qualify for the knockouts in England. The side bounced back with two back-to-back titles – first at the Women’s Asia Cup in the UAE and then, immediately afterwards, at the Asian Games in Japan, where they won the gold medal – but that was not going to change her fate.
It has now emerged that the writing was always on the wall after the World Cup, and the two back-to-back continental wins may have helped her to turn the narrative around the women’s team. As Edulji said, she may be stepping down at a time when the question is ‘why’ rather than ‘why not’.
Team to be built around Smriti Mandhana for next World Cup, LA 28
The information now is that the BCCI wants to build the team around Mandhana, who has been Harmanpreet’s long-time deputy, for the next World Cup and more crucially for the LA Olympic Games. A formal announcement of the new captain is expected when the selectors will meet to pick the squad for the Zimbabwe series. The meeting may take place as early as Tuesday itself.
Like the men’s review meeting held at the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai last month, when chief selector Ajit Agarkar was not present, there was no information on whether women’s chief selector Amita Sharma attended the Guwahati meeting. However, unlike in the case of Agarkar, there is no controversy here.
The women’s selectors, under Amita, are expected to meet soon, probably on Tuesday (October 6) itself, to pick the squad for the six-match white-ball series against Zimbabwe, which is being billed as historic as it will be the first time Zimbabwe Women visit India for a bilateral engagement.
The African side will play three ODIs and as many T20Is during their two-week long tour of India. The ODI leg of the tour will be part of the ICC Women’s Championship 2025-29. The Zimbabwean team will first play the T20Is – all in Raipur on October 16, 18 and 20 – followed by three ODIs in Baroda on October 23, 26 and 28.
