World Cup: Harmanpreet Kaur’s innings will go down as one of the all-time great knocks

Harmanpreet Kaur walked out in Derby against defending World Champions Australia in the World Cup semi-final, with the scoreboard reading 35 for 2 in the 10th over. The openers were back in the pavilion, after captain Mithali Raj won the toss and opted to bat first. Not the start the team would have wanted.

But when Harmanpreet Kaur walked back, still unbeaten, head held high, it was after one of the greatest World Cup innings in Indian cricket history.

171 runs. 115 balls. 20 hits to the fence. 7 hits over the fence. Kaur left everyone watching searching for words, jaws dropped.

The first two boundaries that she hit, in hindsight, were porentous of what was coming later in the day. First a picture-perfect cover drive and then a tremendous straight drive. Take a look at how perfect those shots were.

The arrival of Kaur saw steady progress, with Raj taking her time to get going, before the allrounder took on the role of aggressor.

And boy was that a treat to watch!

She cleared the boundary with ease, hardly mishit anything – expect one attempted lofted straight drive that took the edge but such was the day she was having that even that went to the boundary.

Kaur’s 171 was her third ODI century, the first outside of India and her highest ever score, coming off 115 balls and including 20 fours and seven sixes.

She reached her 50 in 64 balls. She reached her 100 in 90 balls. And in the next 25 balls, she scored 71 runs. It was brutal.

India looked set to score under 200 until Kaur cut loose late on in the innings. At one stage in the innings, after her century, Kaur went on a spree for 12 balls that read: 4 6 6 4 4 2 0 4 4 0 6 4.

Kaur continued to attack in a merciless display of hitting, requiring 26 balls to move from her half-century to triple figures, when she was almost run out scampering a two to reach the landmark. She responded with a roar of anger at her partner and completely lost her composure, but once she composed herself and realised she reached her 100, she went berserk.

That scare and the wicket of Deepti Sharma did little to deter her, using only 18 balls to then bring up 150, as she ensured Australia would need to complete the biggest chase in World Cup history to progress and England in Sunday’s sell-out final at Lord’s.

Speaking after the innings, Kaur spoke about how she wanted to step it up in the big stage.

“I didn’t get chance to bat in the whole tournament, wanted to utilise that opportunity. Whatever I was thinking, I utilised. Plan was to watch the ball and hit the ball, as cleanly as possible.” About the minor altercation with Deepti Sharma after her century, Kaur was sporting: “It was the heat of the moment (Deepti Sharma incident), I said sorry to her. We’re fine now.”

Well, thanks to her innings, India are more than fine at the World Cup.

The reactions to that innings tell a story.

The number of exclamation marks really can’t do justice to what the world had seen – Harmanpreet Kaur showed why she is the present and the future, with a knock that will go down as one of the greatest in Indian cricket history.