OTD: 6 years since Harmanpreet Kaur played India's greatest World Cup innings ever

(Source- Twitter)

Harmanpreet Kaur's century against Australia is regarded as the finest ODI innings in women's cricket history. Her unbeaten 171 came against the defending World Cup winners in a critical semi-final match, at a time when India's greatest batswoman Mithali Raj, as well as openers Smriti Mandhana and Poonam Raut, were all out. During the match, India won the toss and chose to bat first.

Smriti Mandhana and Poonam Raut, the Women in Blue's openers, were knocked out for six and fourteen runs, respectively. Mithali Raj, the then-captain, too unable to turn her promising start into a large score and was dismissed for 61 balls.

OTD: Harmanpreet Kaur scored the highest individual score by an Indian batter in World Cup

Harmanpreet Kaur, who batted at No.4, then hit a spectacular unbeaten effort of 171 runs off 115 deliveries to lead India to a respectable total of 281 for four in a contest shortened to 42 overs each side. Harmanpreet's tough innings reminded many of another comparable effort performed by one of the best all-rounders this game has ever seen. Kapil Dev's unbroken 175 against Zimbabwe in the 1983 World Cup at Tunbridge Wells was a similar style of effort to Harman's at Derby.

The Indian captain was aiming to score on every ball since she was suffering from cramping and found it difficult to run between the wickets. So she went for the big shots, scoring 20 boundaries and seven soaring sixes in the 115-ball knock. It was the second-highest score by an Indian batswoman after Deepti Sharma's 188 against Ireland on May 2017.

The defending champions Australia were then bowled out under the scoreboard pressure when they came out to bat and got bundled out for 245 in 40.1 overs with Deepti Sharma grabbing three wickets while Shikha Pandey and Jhulan Goswami got two scalps each. She was also declared 'Player of the Match' for her match-winning knock.

The Women in Blue suffered an agonizing nine-run defeat against England in the 2017 World Cup final when they seemed headed to win their maiden World Cup title.