Chandigarh:From a World Cup-winning captain to becoming one of the most fearless names in women’s cricket, Harmanpreet Kaur’s journey started in the small town of Moga, Punjab. At a time when there were hardly any opportunities for girls in cricket, she built her game
playing with boys on local grounds, an experience that shaped her into a tougher, more fearless cricketer early on. Supported by her family, especially her father, who took her to the grounds and encouraged her to play freely, her journey was driven by belief from the very beginning.
In a recent episode of the iQOO Quest Talk podcast with Nipun Marya, CEO, iQOO, Harmanpreet reflected on those early years and the roots of her passion. “I always wanted to play cricket. I even had a poster of Virender Sehwag in my room. I really admired him. My father also played sports, so somewhere it ran in the family,” she shared.
Her father, Harmandar Singh Bhullar, a former volleyball and basketball player, became her first coach and biggest support system. “He used to take me to the ground and never stopped me from playing. Whatever I wanted to do in sports, he always backed me,” she said. “In Moga, not many girls were interested in cricket back then, so I just kept playing with boys. That’s how I learned and improved,” she added.
One such day on the field led to a turning point that changed the course of her journey. Recalling the moment, she said, “I had tied my hair the way Sikh boys usually do, so when a school principal saw me playing, he got confused and had to come closer to ask if I was a girl or a boy. But as he stood there watching, he realised I had potential.”
What followed was her first real breakthrough. “He went to my father and said, ‘She has something special. Bring her to my school, I will make sure she gets the right training for women’s cricket.’ He told my father that I would get proper, structured coaching there,” Harmanpreet recalled.
That school, Gian Jyoti School Academy, became the starting point of her formal training. “Until then, it was just playing on the ground with boys. This was the first time I was getting proper coaching, and that’s when things started becoming serious for me,” she said.
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