Twitter Reactions: Harmanpreet Kaur pummels England bowlers on her way to 143 as India post 333

Harmanpreet Kaur who has been one of the backbones of the Indian women's batting unit, when needed the most, made her presence felt as the skipper and scored an outstanding century in the second One Day International against England at the St Lawrence Ground, Canterbury on Wednesday, September 21. 

What made the occasion even more special is that the Indian power-hitter took the responsibility of the team's batting when it appeared that the Women in Blue would suffer a collapse after being put to bat. While dynamic opener, Smriti Mandhana fell short of a well-deserved century by nine runs in the last game, Harmanpreet made amends for it in the ongoing contest as the Indian eves aimed to seal the ODI series.

Harmanpreet Kaur plays the captain's knock

India lost young opening batter Shafali Verma early, but Smriti Mandhana and Yastika Bhatia added 54 runs for the second-wicket stand and anchored the game. The wicketkeeper-batter was dismissed for 26 while Mandhana who looked in great touch walked back to the pavilion after scoring 40 runs against her name in the 20th over. 

At 99/3, the visitors seemed to be in a spot of bother before Kaur and promising all-rounder Harleen Deol carried out the rescue act adding 113 runs for the fourth-wicket stand before Deol was dismissed for a vital 58. After Harleen's dismissal, Harmanpreet accelerated her innings and there was no looking back from that point onwards as she went berserk against the English bowlers.

Such was the impact of her cricketing shots that the bowlers failed to rediscover their rhythm as India's scoreboard kept ticking. Even though the Women in Blue lost wickets from the other end, Kaur held on the innings single-handedly from one end and ended up scoring a quickfire century. It was also her fifth WODI ton.

The Indian skipper showed no complacency even after breaching three figures and was on a rampage in the death overs as India posted a mammoth total of 333/5. She remained unbeaten on 143 runs off 111 deliveries at a strike rate of 128.82 and her innings included 18 fours and four sixes.