Harmanpreet Kaur extends her association with Sydney Thunder

The T20I captain of the Indian women’s team Harmanpreet Kaur has extended her stint with Sydney Thunder by two years in the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL). The third edition of the T20 tournament is all set to commence on December 9. The upcoming season of Kaur will mark her second year in the lucrative league after becoming the first Indian woman cricketer to be picked in the foreign T20 league.

The 28-year-old had a fruitful season last year as she scored 296 runs for the Sydney franchise at an average of 59.2 and a strike-rate of 117. Thunders didn’t make it to the playoffs but she was adjudged as the player of the tournament for them. Kaur also hogged all the limelight in the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup when she smashed 171 off just 115 balls against Australia in the semifinals which was also the highest individual score in the tournament knockouts.

She is a match-winner

Sydney Thunder re-signed Harmanpreet Kaur for the next two seasons on Friday which was the final day of the tournament’s contracting period for the third edition. The manager of the franchise Lee Germon was excited after signing the Indian superstar. “Following the Women’s World Cup, Harmanpreet was the hottest property in cricket. She showed during that tournament, and through her performances with the Thunder, that she is one of, if not the most, destructive batters in the game at the moment,” Germon said.

The coach Jo Broadbent also termed her as a match-winner and the big hitter the team required. “She’s a match-winner and that’s what you need in T20, you need those match-winners. She’s got that really good blend of technique and power, she really works on the basics. She’s just incredible and such a great person to have. Her bat does most of the talking,” she told adelaidenow.com.au.

“Normally in the women’s (T20) game if you get your run rate up to eight runs an over, you rarely see players explode and get over 10 runs an over and do that for four or five overs. She can do that. If we had to get 10 or 12 runs an over and she was in the middle, you’d almost be backing her to win a game,” she added.