A World Cup, two Asian Games golds and a generation inspired: Harmanpreet Kaur steps down as India captain
Ten years after she first led India's T20I side, Harmanpreet has handed over the captaincy in all formats. She leaves with India's first women's World Cup and a game transformed, and she says she will keep playing.
Harmanpreet Kaur has stepped down as captain of the Indian women's cricket team in all three formats. The 37-year-old announced the decision in an Instagram post on Tuesday, 6 October 2026, ending a leadership run that began in T20Is in 2016 and peaked with India's first ever women's ODI World Cup title last year.
"Today, I step down as captain of the Indian Women's Cricket Team across all formats," she wrote, adding that she felt she had "done my duty." She is not retiring. Harmanpreet made it clear she wants to keep playing for India, and signed off with the line: "Captaincy may end today, but my love for Indian cricket never will."
Indian media reported that the announcement came a day after she met BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia to discuss the team's future. Later the same day, the BCCI named Smriti Mandhana, her vice-captain since 2022, as India's full-time white-ball captain. The reports we have seen do not name a new Test captain yet.
Harmanpreet Kaur's captaincy in numbers
Harmanpreet took charge of India's T20I side in 2016 and became the full-time ODI and Test captain in 2022, after Mithali Raj retired from international cricket. According to published records, she leaves with these numbers as captain:
- T20Is: 155 matches and more than 90 wins. She is the first cricketer, man or woman, to captain a side in over 150 T20Is.
- ODIs: 51 matches, 30 wins.
- Tests: 5 matches, 4 wins.
She also kept scoring while carrying the job. Reported figures put her at more than 3,400 T20I runs and around 1,800 ODI runs as captain, with four ODI hundreds.
The trophies: from near-misses to a World Cup
For years, India under Harmanpreet were the team that got close. They reached the T20 World Cup semi-finals in 2018 and 2023, lost the 2020 T20 World Cup final to Australia in Melbourne, and took silver at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham after another final defeat to Australia.
That changed in November 2025. On home soil, India beat South Africa in the final to win the Women's ODI World Cup for the first time, and Harmanpreet took the catch that sealed it. It put her alongside Kapil Dev and MS Dhoni as the only Indian captains to lift a 50-over World Cup.
The main titles of her tenure:
- ICC Women's ODI World Cup: 2025, India's first.
- Asian Games gold: 2023 in Hangzhou, when cricket returned to the Games, and 2026 in Aichi-Nagoya, where India beat Sri Lanka by 147 runs in the final. That was her last match as captain.
- Women's Asia Cup: 2022 and 2026.
- Commonwealth Games silver: 2022, the first time women's cricket was played at the Games.
It was not all smooth. India went out in the group stage of the 2026 T20 World Cup in England this summer, which led to questions about her leadership. The selectors kept her in charge for the Asian Games, and she answered with gold.
How Harmanpreet changed women's cricket in India
Harmanpreet's influence goes well beyond the scorecard. Many fans date the modern boom in Indian women's cricket to one innings: her unbeaten 171 off 115 balls against Australia in the 2017 World Cup semi-final at Derby. India lost that final to England, but the knock brought a new audience to the women's game, and Harmanpreet has said she still thinks back to it on tough days.
As captain, she led India through the biggest changes the women's game here has seen:
- The Women's Premier League: she captained Mumbai Indians to the title in the first season in 2023 and again in 2025, and the league gave young domestic players a stage they never had before.
- Multi-sport events: under her, women's cricket became a medal sport for India, with a Commonwealth Games silver and two Asian Games golds.
- The home World Cup: the 2025 title, won in front of packed Indian crowds, was the moment the women's team became a national story, not a niche one.
The milestones kept coming in her final year as captain. In 2026 she was reported to have become the most-capped player in women's international cricket, passing New Zealand's Suzie Bates, and the first player, man or woman, to reach 200 T20I appearances.
Just as important was the example she set. She grew up in Moga, Punjab, and made her India debut in 2009, at a time when few girls in small-town India saw cricket as a career. She played aggressively, spoke her mind, and as captain she made hard selection calls. In her farewell note she admitted she often put her own batting and ambitions aside because the team came first.
What comes next for Harmanpreet and India
Mandhana takes over a side that is the reigning ODI world champion and Asian Games gold medallist. She has captained India in 18 T20Is and four ODIs, and led Royal Challengers Bengaluru to WPL titles in 2024 and 2026.
Harmanpreet, meanwhile, goes back to being one of India's most experienced batters. If she stays in the side, she could yet have a part to play at the next T20 and ODI World Cups, this time without the armband.
Will Mandhana build on Harmanpreet's legacy, or bring a new style of leadership? Follow TryBall for every update on India women's cricket.