Before the ODI series began, captain Harmanpreet Kaur spoke of a happy headache when it comes to selection, thanks to India’s widening talent pool. Her personal form, however, wasn’t a headache of the happy kind, though India were making up for her lack of runs elsewhere.
Harmanpreet’s returns in the T20I series were 1, 23, 26 and 15. Then in the ODIs, she scored 17 and 7 in the first two games. With the ODI World Cup around the corner, the skipper would have dearly liked to spend some time in the middle and get some form going. She did just that in the final outing of the tour, scoring a sensational century in the third ODI at Chester-le-Street.
It was a typical Harmanpreet knock. Walking into bat at 81/2 in the 18th over, she took her time to get her eye in. Sophie Ecclestone was in the middle of a miserly spell, India had just lost the wicket of Smriti Mandhana, and Harleen Deol wasn’t exactly setting the ground alight.
💯% 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗲 🔥
Harmanpreet Kaur registers yet another 𝕋𝕆ℕ as 🇮🇳 post 318/5 against 🏴 in the series decider.
Can they defend it? Watch the chase unfold LIVE on FanCode NOW 📲#EngvsInd pic.twitter.com/XaMuVPexoj
— FanCode (@FanCode) July 22, 2025
Harmanpreet’s general innings construction consists of a slow start, then steady acceleration through the middle overs and a final flourish. She was on 0 for 10 balls, before the first of many flowing cover drives was struck for four.
When Nat Sciver-Brunt brought back Ecclestone for her final three overs in a bid to get the Indian skipper out, Harmanpreet responded with a couple more cover drives for boundaries. By the time Ecclestone was bowled out after the 34th over, Harmanpreet was well set on 39 off 48 balls. The base was set.
By the 43rd over – with Jemimah Rodrigues for company and already taking the attack to England – Harmanpreet’s strike rate had gone past a-run-a-ball. From 50 off 54 balls, her next 50 came off just 28 balls, an 82-ball century being the fastest of her seven in this format. It was also her third in England, as many as she has scored in India.
The century was also an exhibition of Harmanpreet’s range around the ground. The sweep shot might be one of her favourites, and it had almost become a predictable go-to weapon, even to just get off strike. Just three of her 14 boundaries came in the region between fine leg and square leg; on the offside, she hit eight fours compared to her usually preferred leg-side heavy count (6). The cuts and drives were peppered through her innings, and she tried to hit with a straight bat most of the time.
“In the ODI cricket we’ve been playing for the last couple of years, we’ve always focused on scoring more than 300 with the bat,” Harmanpreet had said before the series. “It gives the bowlers some cushioning. When we’re batting, we want to look for more than 300 and when we’re bowling, we have good bowling options so that there’s no extra pressure on any one bowler.”
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That India were able to get past 300 was courtesy a 77-ball 110-run stand between Harmanpreet and Jemimah, with the latter once more providing the nitro boost to the Indian middle order at No.5. In her 50th ODI, the Mumbaikar made a boundary-filled 50. The finishing touch came from Richa Ghosh.
The platform was once again laid by a solid opening stand between Mandhana and Pratika Rawal, but if 300 is the benchmark India are aspiring to in this format every time they bat first, it was only possible because of the well-timed, and well-calculated, acceleration at the back-end.
