“Harmanpreet Kaur having the best year”: Isa Guha celebrates Harmanpreet Kaur 5th ODI century vs England in Canterbury

Harmanpreet Kaur 5th ODI century: The Indian captain has scored her second WODI century this year at St Lawrence Ground.

During the second ODI of India Women’s tour of England 2022 in Canterbury, India captain Harmanpreet Kaur has scored her sixth century in international cricket. In what is the right-handed batter’s fifth ODI century, it is her fourth at No. 4, second against England, in England, as captain and in 2022.

Coming in to bat at No. 4 in the 12th over, Kaur bettered her form from the first WODI in Hove to convert a half-century into a century to power her team to 333/5 in 50 overs after being asked to bat first by England captain Amy Jones.

It was on the 18th delivery that Kaur faced that she hit her first boundary by pulling England pacer Freya Kemp through the square leg region. Having just found her feat, Kaur was immediately required to build a partnership as her deputy Smriti Mandhana (40) missed a sweep off spinner Sophie Ecclestone to be found wanting in front of the stumps.

What followed was a 125-ball 113-run fourth-wicket partnership between Kaur and Harleen Deol (58). Kaur, who played the role of a quintessential senior batter in the stand, had crossed the 50-run mark by the time Deol was dismissed at the brink of the third powerplay.

Having also dominated a 36-ball 50-run fifth-wicket partnership alongside all-rounder Pooja Vastrakar (18), Kaur had provided signs of reaching the three-figure mark at the St Lawrence Ground today.

Kaur, who hit six boundaries in this partnership, managed to bring up a 100-ball century by running a single off Ecclestone in the 47th over. The 33-year old player ended up scoring 143* (111) with the help of 18 fours and four sixes to register a fantastic knock.

Isa Guha celebrates Harmanpreet Kaur 5th ODI century vs England

Former England cricketer and renowned broadcaster Isa Guha took to social media platform Twitter to express her views on Kaur’s innings. Claiming Kaur to be thriving as a captain, Guha believed 2022 to be her best year in a long time.

Kaur, who batted at a strike rate of 128.82 on Wednesday, is indeed having the best year of her ODI career. In 15 ODI innings in 2022, Kaur’s 750 runs have come at an average and strike rate of 62.50 and 90.25 respectively. Kaur, who hadn’t scored more than 200 ODI runs in a year since 2017, has scored in excess of 700 ODI runs in a year for the first time in her career.