Unless you were living under a rock, there is very little chance that, by now, you have not heard about the extra-ordinary innings that Harmanpreet Kaur played against defending World Champions Australia in the semi-final of the ICC Women’s World Cup. What started as a steady innings, exploded into an exhibition of brutal hitting – she plundered 103 runs of her last 40 balls. That’s a strike rate of 257.50. Insane doesn’t become close to describing that phase of her innings.
During that innings, she played several strokes that made the jaw drop. Her slog sweeps are now the stuff of legends – the way she goes on her knees, even before the bowler decides what length to bowl, and swinging freely anyway. But to truly understand the strength of her batting, is to study how she plays the spinners – treating them often with disdain, as the Aussies would readily admit.
Her preferred hitting zone, without a doubt, is the arc between long-off and mid-wicket – 109 off her 171 runs came in that region. What enables her to hit freely in that region is the use of her feet and the bat-swing. Oh, that bat-swing.
We try to enunciate this technique of her in this video.
This was the 22nd over of the match, left-arm spinner Jess Jonassen – who was her favourite target of the day –tossed it up, but before she even realised, Kaur was down the track – way down the track – ready to pull the trigger, using her top-handed grip. The swing is so massive, that she wouldn’t find herself out of place on a golf course. This was a repeat feature of her innings. While she is not the most powerfully-built cricketer around in the world cricket right now, Kaur more than makes up for it with this technique.
Video design: Anand Katakam
