India’s World Cup-winning captain relinquishes leadership after a decade at the helm of the T20I side, but will continue playing for the country
New Delhi: Harmanpreet Kaur has stepped down as captain of the Indian women’s cricket team across all three formats, bringing an end to her tenure as the side’s all-format leader.
The 37-year-old announced the decision on Tuesday following a BCCI review meeting in Guwahati, attended by BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia, vice-captain Smriti Mandhana and head coach Amol Muzumdar.
Harmanpreet said she felt she had fulfilled her responsibility as captain and was ready to return to playing “for the love of the game”. “I feel I have done my duty. I gave this team everything I had,” Harmanpreet said in her statement.
Harmanpreet took over as India’s full-time T20I captain in 2016, assumed ODI leadership in 2022 and became the all-format captain in 2023. She led India in five Tests, 51 ODIs and 155 T20Is.
Under her captaincy, India won their maiden Women’s ODI World Cup last year and recently secured a second successive Asian Games gold medal. She also led India to silver at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Harmanpreet will continue to represent India as a player. Smriti Mandhana is widely expected to be among the leading candidates for the captaincy succession, although the next captain has not been officially announced.
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