New Delhi, 07 October (H.S.): Newly appointed India women’s cricket captain Smriti Mandhana congratulated former captain Harmanpreet Kaur on the successful completion of her tenure, saying it had been a wonderful experience playing under her leadership for a decade and that the two would now work together to achieve greater success for the country.

Harmanpreet announced on social media on Tuesday that she was stepping down as India’s captain across all three formats. Under her leadership, India won the gold medal at the 2026 Asian Games. Mandhana will take charge as India’s full-time captain across formats from the tour of Zimbabwe, beginning October 16.

In her social media story, Smriti Mandhana wrote, “It has been a pleasure playing alongside you for all these years. These 10 years under your leadership have been wonderful, and now together we will try to achieve many more milestones for our country.”

Harmanpreet’s biggest achievement as captain came in 2025, when she led India to their maiden Women’s ODI World Cup title. She first took charge of India in T20Is in 2016 and became the full-time captain of the ODI and Test teams following Mithali Raj’s retirement in 2022.

With India’s World Cup triumph, Harmanpreet became only the third Indian captain after Kapil Dev and Mahendra Singh Dhoni to win the 50-over World Cup.

Under Harmanpreet, India reached the semi-finals of the Women’s T20 World Cup in 2018 and 2023, while the team finished runners-up in 2020. She captained India in a record 155 women’s T20Is and became the first captain, male or female, to lead a team in more than 150 international matches.

Harmanpreet also led India in five Tests and 51 ODIs. At the 2022 Commonwealth Games, she guided the team to a silver medal. She also led India to gold at the Asian Games, helping the side retain the title in the continental competition.

Harmanpreet’s tenure witnessed a period of growing global recognition for Indian women’s cricket, accompanied by several historic achievements on the international stage.

Smriti Mandhana will now begin her tenure as India women’s new full-time captain with the Zimbabwe tour, marking the start of a new chapter for the team while continuing to build on the foundation laid during Harmanpreet’s decade at the helm.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar