Harmanpreet Kaur Creates History, Becomes First Player In The World To...

Harmanpreet Kaur entered her name in the history books on Saturday (September 5) by becoming the first player in the world to play 150 T20Is as captain (men’s and women’s combined). India’s third Group A match of the Women’s Asia Cup 2026 against Pakistan in Dubai on Saturday is Harman’s 150th WT20I as India captain.

India vs Pakistan LIVE Score, Women’s Asia Cup 2026

In the previous 149 WT20Is she has played as captain, she has managed to secure 86 outright wins.

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Harmanpreet Kaur becomes the first cricketer to captain a side in 1️⃣5️⃣0️⃣ T20Is. 👏 👏

Updates ▶️ https://t.co/1WHHWPMe2o#TeamIndia | #WomensAsiaCup | @ImHarmanpreet

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— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) September 5, 2026

In the list of players with the most T20Is as captain, Harmanpreet is followed by Sri Lanka’s Chamari Athapaththu.

Athapaththu has captained Sri Lanka in 121 WT20Is so far. Marie Bimenyimana has led Rwanda in 101 matches, while Meg Lanning retired from international cricket after leading Australia in 100 WT20Is.

In the men’s arena, the record for playing the most T20Is as captain is in the name of Gerhard Erasmus. Gerhard Erasmus has led Namibia in 91 T20Is so far, while Clinton Rubagumya has captained Rwanda in 90 T20I matches.

Most T20Is as captain (Men’s and women’s combined)

PLAYER	COUNTRY	CATEGORY	TIME SPAN	MATCHES
Harmanpreet Kaur	India	Women’s T20Is	2012-2026	150*
Chamari Athapaththu	Sri Lanka	Women’s T20Is	2014-2026	121
Marie Bimenyimana	Rwanda	Women’s T20Is	2021-2026	101
Meg Lanning	Australia	Women’s T20Is	2014-2023	100
Naruemol Chaiwai	Thailand	Women’s T20Is	2021-2026	98
Heather Knight	England	Women’s T20Is	2016-2025	96
Charlotte Edwards	England	Women’s T20Is	2006-2016	93
Gerhard Erasmus	Namibia	Men’s T20Is	2019-2026	91
Clinton Rubagumya	Rwanda	Men’s T20Is	2021-2025	90
Winifred Duraisingam	Malaysia	Women’s T20Is	2018-2026	86
Babar Azam	Pakistan	Men’s T20Is	2019-2024	85

Harmanpreet, who also the record for playing most WT20Is, has scored 3301 WT20I runs as captain. She is second on the list of players with most runs in WT20Is as captain.

Unchanged India to bowl first

India are playing with an unchanged XI in their Group A match against Pakistan at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. Pakistan have also fielded the same XI that managed to get the better of Thailand in their first match on Tuesday (September 1).

In the high-voltage match against India, Pakistan skipper Fatima Sana has opted to bat first. The Women in Green batted first against Thailand as well but could only manage to score 119 runs for the loss of nine wickets in 20 overs.

Playing XIs

India: Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Pratika Rawal, Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Bharti Fulmali, Richa Ghosh (WK), Deepti Sharma, Prema Rawat, Nandani Sharma, Shree Charani, Kranti Gaud

Pakistan: Muneeba Ali (WK), Shawaal Zulfiqar, Gull Feroza, Ayesha Zafar, Sadaf Shamas, Fatima Sana (C), Umm-e-Hani, Eyman Fatima, Tuba Hassan, Nashra Sandhu, Sadia Iqbal