ICC Awards: Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur is having a stellar 2022. Earlier this year, she led the Indian team to a successful 2022 Commonwealth Games (CWG) campaign, it might not have ended in the way India wanted to but they still managed to clinch the silver medal. After Mithali Raj's retirement, Kaur was made the full-time skipper of the Indian cricket team and it seems that she is relishing every challenge that is being thrown at her.
India's skipper Harmanpreet Kaur riding high on her recent form has been awarded by the ICC. The International Cricket Council has felicitated Harmanpreet with the best player award for September and she has now become the first winner of the ICC Women's Player of the Month award. The Indian skipper had a great run against England in the three-match ODI series that they played. Kaur amassed a total of 221 runs across three matches. The Indian skipper averaged 221 and registered a strike rate of 103.27. She bettered her compatriot Smriti Mandhana who scored a total of 181 runs with a decent average of 60.33. The race wasn't just restricted to Mandhana and Kaur, Nigar Sultana, the skipper of Bangladesh too was in the reckoning and lay her claim to Harmanpreet's throne.
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An elated Harmanpreet said:
It was great to be nominated for the award and to win it is an amazing feeling. To come out as a winner when being nominated alongside Smriti and Nigar is very humbling. I have always taken immense pride in representing my country and achieving the historic ODI series win in England will remain a landmark moment for me in my career. The game of cricket is blessed to have some of the finest athletes on the sporting circuit and to be chosen the ICC Women’s Player of the Month amongst them is a special recognition for me as an individual and the captain of the Indian cricket team.
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The month of September has been a memorable one, not only for Harmanpreet Kaur the player but for Harmanpreet Kaur the captain also. She led the Indian women's team to a 3-0 whitewash over Amy Jones's England which also happens to be India women's first series win in England since 1999. In the first ODI of the series, Kaur registered a scintillating 74* while chasing 228. She later followed it up with 143* off just 111 balls which also happens to be her second-highest ODI score.
