Harmanpreet Kaur Becomes First Cricketer Ever to Captain in 150 T20Is

Harmanpreet Kaur has become the first cricketer in history, male or female, to captain in 150 T20 Internationals, reaching the landmark during India's Women's Asia Cup clash against Pakistan in Dubai.

India's captain since 2012, Harmanpreet entered the match on 149 games as skipper with a record of 86 wins and 57 losses. "Great achievement. But the key is to keep enjoying yourself on the field, and that is a key; I try to keep up with that," she said at the toss. She stands well clear of the next-best captains in the format: Sri Lanka's Chamari Athapaththu (121) among women, and Namibia's Gerhard Erasmus (91) among men.

The milestone came in a match already stacked with individual landmarks. It followed shortly after teammate Deepti Sharma became the leading wicket-taker in Women's T20I history, while Smriti Mandhana entered the contest just 78 runs short of overtaking Suzie Bates as the format's all-time leading run-scorer. Pakistan's Muneeba Ali also had milestones of her own in sight, two matches away from a century of T20I appearances.

India had already secured their Women's Asia Cup semi-final berth prior to the Pakistan match, following wins over Thailand and Hong Kong, extending a dominant head-to-head record over their rivals that now stands at 14 wins from 17 T20I meetings.