Harmanpreet Kaur, under whom India won its maiden ODI World Cup, said she is leaving the captaincy “with a heart full of emotions, but also with peace”
| Photo Credit: ICC via Getty Images
Harmanpreet Kaur has stepped down as captain of India’s women’s cricket team across all three formats, bringing the curtains down on a leadership tenure that reached its peak with India winning its maiden women’s ODI World Cup last year.
The 37-year-old announced her decision in an Instagram post on Tuesday (October 6, 2026), a day after she, vice-captain Smriti Mandhana and head coach Amol Muzumdar met BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia in Guwahati to discuss the roadmap for the women’s team.
Having relinquished the captaincy, Harmanpreet said she was leaving the team in a “good place” and was now “ready to play for the love of the game again.”
“This is not an easy decision,” Harmanpreet wrote. “It carries years of memories, emotions, sacrifices, and moments that will stay with me for the rest of my life.”
Harmanpreet, who led India in five Tests, 51 ODIs and 155 T20Is, said the demands of captaincy had at times come at the expense of her own game and ambitions.
“I have given everything I had to this team and to Indian women’ scricket — my blood, my sweat, my time, and many times, a part of my own game and personal ambitions,” she said. “There were moments when I had to put my individual performance, my own growth, and what I wanted for myself aside, because I believed the team had to come first.”
She added that the difficult decisions she had taken as captain wer ealways made with the team’s growth in mind.
“As a captain, I have had to make difficult decisions. Decisions that were not always understood, not always easy, and sometimes came at a personal cost. But every decision I made was with one intention — to make this TEAM better and to give other players the opportunity to grow, believe in themselves and become the best versions of themselves.”
Harmanpreet’s last assignment as captain was India’s successful Asia nGames campaign in Nisshin last month, where the team retained the gold medal.
She first captained India in T20Is in 2012 and took over the role full-time from Mithali Raj in 2018. Under her leadership, India reached the T20 World Cup semifinals in the Caribbean that year and finished runners-up in Australia in 2020.
Decks cleared for Mandhana
Harmanpreet’s decision has thus cleared the decks for Mandhana to take ver starting with India’s home series against Zimbabwe starting next week. The clamour for Mandhana to succeed her has grown in recent months, with the left-hander also establishing her credentials as captain of Royal Challengers Bengaluru in Women’s Premier League.
Published – October 06, 2026 11:51 am IST