Harmanpreet Kaur's India captaincy in danger after Women's T20 World Cup 2024 disaster

The future of Harmanpreet Kaur as the captain of India Women's cricket team is in danger as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will conduct a meeting and take a final decision on this matter.

Clouds were hanging around Harmanpreet's captaincy ever since India were knocked out of the group stage of the Women's T20 World Cup 2024. The Women in Blue failed to reach the semi-finals in a rather disappointing performance in the tournament.

They lost to New Zealand badly in their opening clash but came back strongly by defeating Pakistan and Sri Lanka in their next two games. However, the narrow defeat to Australia ensured they needed a favor from Pakistan in the final group stage match of Group A.

However, it did not happen as Pakistan lost to New Zealand by 54 runs, thus knocking them out of the tournament.

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Harmanpreet Kaur's India captaincy in danger

According to the Indian Express, the BCCI will have a meeting with the selection committee and India's head coach Amol Muzumdar to take a final decision on the future of Harmanpreet Kaur. She took over as India's T20 captain after the team failed to reach the semi-finals of the tournament in 2016.

India have been consistently reaching the knockouts under the leadership of Harmanpreet. They even made it to the finals of the 2020 edition of the tournament where they lost to Australia in the final.

However, they have been unable to lift the trophy despite reaching mighty close on various occasions. In the current T20 World Cup, India failed to reach the semi-finals despite having a strong squad at their disposal.

The Women in Blue lost their first game of the tournament to New Zealand, and that ultimately led to the danger of being knocked out earlier. Even against Australia, India was in a good position to win but landed just short of the target despite Harmanpreet Kaur's unbeaten knock.

A BCCI source mentioned that a final decision will be taken on Harmanpreet's captaincy in the upcoming meeting. However, the source made it clear that Harmanpreet Kaur will remain an important member of the team.

“The BCCI will certainly discuss whether to have a new captain on board going ahead. The Indian board has provided everything that the team wanted and we feel it’s high time a new face leads the team going ahead. Harmanpreet will continue to be an important member of the team but the BCCI feels it’s time for transition,” the source was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.

Good tournament with the bat for Harmanpreet Kaur

As has happened in tournaments before, India struggled to win crucial moments in the ongoing T20 World Cup as well. The batters failed to adapt on slow and low-scoring wickets in UAE and that led to their downfall.

Harmanpreet Kaur, however, had a good tournament with the bat and rose to the occasion in crucial games. She scored 150 runs in 4 matches at a strike rate of 133.92 after being dismissed just once in the tournament. But her knocks were not enough for India to take them over the line.

Smriti Mandhana likely to take over captaincy

If Harmanpreet is removed from the captaincy, Smriti Mandhana is the likely option to take over the role. The left-handed opener has been Harmanpreet's deputy for a long time now and is also seen as a future captain of the team.

Mandhana had a disappointing tournament recently in the Women's T20 World Cup where she scored just 75 runs in 4 matches at an average of 18.75. But she has a good captaincy record and has also won an IPL title for RCB as a captain.