Harmanpreet adds more aggression to her game

Harmanpreet Kaur is among the few batters in the women's game who do not need a free hit to get going. When she got one in Mumbai Indians' (MI) opening match of WPL 2025, she took full toll. She waltzed down the track and smacked Radha Yadav over the long-off boundary for a 74-metre hit. It was just the ninth ball Harmanpreet had faced; little did we know it was a sign of things to come.

Ever since Harmanpreet's international debut in 2009, her strokeplay has attracted attention. Her unfettered bat-swing is a thing of beauty and there is something alluring about watching her play without the stress of keeping up with the chase. Her confidence, and the fact that she comes through more often than not, makes it seem like the bowlers are under ten times more pressure.

However, with captaincy comes responsibility, so much so that batters sometimes end up curbing their attacking instincts far too much. It seemed to be the case with Harmanpreet in recent times. In the aftermath of India's early exit from the T20 World Cup in 2024, focus shifted to the shots she can play to why she wasn't playing them. Her first-ten-ball strike rate in T20Is had fallen to 83.56 in 2024, her lowest in three years.

Like India, MI rely hugely on Harmanpreet, and Nat Sciver-Brunt. The team's results often mirror the duo's performances, which does explain Harmanpreet's safety-first approach with the bat and that method did deliver them a WPL trophy - MI won the inaugural season - but it wasn't entirely foolproof.

MI narrowly missed out on a spot in the final in 2024. That five-run defeat to Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the eliminator hurt her. She scored a 30-ball 33 and fell leaving MI needing 16 off 12. The remaining batters could not get those runs.

Only a game before that, Harmanpreet had found herself in a similar situation, but that time she had escaped, thanks to some sloppy fielding from the opposition. MI needed 91 off 36 balls against Gujarat Giants (GG) to make the playoffs; Harmanpreet was on 20 off 21 before she was dropped. She blasted 95 not out off 48 balls to take MI over the line. Harmanpreet's method of taking it deep was seemingly counter-productive, especially if she fell before landing the killer blow.

Ahead of WPL 2025, Harmanpreet and Devika Palshikar, MI's batting coach, had a chat about changing her approach. The conversation stemmed from the narrow defeat that ended their campaign last season, and the idea was for Harmanpreet to attack from an early point, but not recklessly. It is still a work in progress - and therefore liable to backfire - but there is no denying that it is making one of the world's most dangerous batters dangerous again. Her first-ten-ball strike rate in WPL 2025 is 122.58, which is a massive jump from 93.98 in 2024 and 73.68 in 2023.

That six off Radha was the earliest point Harmanpreet has hit one in the WPL. In the same game, she hit the first four balls of the 11th over, bowled by Annabel Sutherland, for 4, 4, 6, 4 but was out on the following delivery.

Aggression like this always has a trade-off. In the first two seasons of the WPL, when Harmanpreet took fewer risks, she was dismissed inside 20 balls five times in 16 innings. She has already matched that now in 2025. But her team is still in the playoffs and she is their third-highest run-getter. The price she is paying seems to be worthwhile.

"We're finding her much better this season," Palshikar said after Harmanpreet's Player-of-the-Match effort against GG in Mumbai earlier this week. "If you remember last year's Eliminator, which we lost by five runs, it was a close game. We had a long chat then and before starting this season that one of Nat and Harman should be there throughout the innings. She practises a lot against spin also and pace also. It is a very focused practice, where she knows she needs to be there till the end. She is finding ways to do that and that's why you can see a major difference in her batting."

Looks like Harmanpreet is trying to do both but with an increased focus on getting off the blocks quickly. She has always been a matchwinner. But this season, she has been pushing herself even harder, testing the limits of her talent, and it has led to a situation where one of the world's best hitters has realised she doesn't really need to hold back like she did before.

Stats inputs from Sampath Bandarupalli