Dreamt of becoming like Virender Sehwag, used to copy his shots: Harmanpreet Kaur

Harmanpreet Kaur is one of the very reasons behind Indian women cricket’s meteoric rise over the last three years or so. In the 2017 World Cup semi-final against Australia, the Punjab-born’s 115-ball 171* took the Women in Blue to the final. In the 2018 World T20 in the West Indies, she became the first India women’s batter to notch a T20I ton and she accomplished the feat against New Zealand.

Harmanpreet takes the attacking route, so is her idol Virender Sehwag. The 31-year-old recently said she started playing the sport because of Sehwag and also copied his strokes. A joyous Kaur said that she dreamt of becoming like the Nawab of Najafgarh. Harmanpreet, the Indian T20I captain, made the revelations while speaking to Harsha Bhogle on Cricbuzz.

I was so fond of his batting: Harmanpreet Kaur

“I used to copy his shots while batting at the ground. His cut shot was so lethal, the ball would go for a boundary or a six if he was offered width. I prepared myself accordingly for my game. He might not know this but I practiced a lot because of him, it was my dream to become like him,” Harmanpreet said.

So, when kids come to me and tell me they want to become like me, I can feel that because I have gone through the same journey. I get happiness in helping them in any manner because when I was going through these things, I was clueless about where I wanted to go but I was determined to play,” she mentioned.

“I have always followed him. I was so fond of his batting that I used to be more nervous about his batting than him before every match,” Harmanpreet added.

Harmanpreet also went down the memory lane and recalled her first interaction with Sehwag, the first Indian batsman to score a Test triple century. Kaur said that sent him a text message and received a call back within a couple of seconds.

Harmanpreet last played in the 2020 T20 World Cup in Australia. Though she wasn’t in good form with the bat, her team went on to become the runners-up. In two Tests, 99 ODIs and 114 T20Is, she has 26, 2,372 and 2,186 runs respectively.