Meg Lanning is one of the greatest captains the game of cricket has ever seen. She led Australia to four T20 World Cup titles and one in the ODI format. But it should have been two. Australia were overwhelming favourites for the 2017 edition. However, India's Harmanpreet Kaur smashed an unbeaten 171* off 115 balls in the semifinal at County Ground in Derby that will forever be remembered as the innings that redefined women's cricket in India. For Harmanpreet, it felt like the day when women's cricket entered the national consciousness. "Going by the reaction of the media before the final at Lord's, pata chal gaya tha thi duniya jaag gayi hai, pata chal gaya ki ladkiyaan bhi cricket khelti hain," Harmanpreet said on Gaurav Kapur's Breakfast with Champions. After all, there are not many knocks in world cricket that made Lanning feel 'helpless.' Retired India international Veda Krishnamurthy had the best seat in the house for the closing stages of that stunning century by Harmanpreet, which was studded with 7 sixes and 20 fours. 'It was something absolutely out of the box. We knew that Harman was always capable of something like that, but to replicate it in a game against Australia in a semifinal was special," Veda told The Indian Express, a day of India vs Australia at the 2025 ICC Women's World Cup in Visakhapatnam on Sunday. "Watching from the dressing room, we were enjoying it. And when I went in to bat with her towards the end, it was just fun. She was enjoying, she was exploding, and you can only watch and admire.” Despite including some glorious drives for fours early on, it was still a typical start to a Harmanpreet innings. She was taking her time to settle, and reached her fifty came off 64 balls. Her next 50, however, came off just 26 deliveries, while her last 71 runs were scored off a surreal 25 balls. "She went mad, if I have to put it properly. That is exactly what it was. To witness it was crazy. It was absolutely no pressure on any of us that day because once she started hitting that way, it felt like there was a lot of confidence that was coming into the dugout as well. As you walk in, you are always nervous as a batter. I think that was the one instance where I walked in with no nerves at all," Veda recalled. The story goes that there was no proper food available that morning in Derby, in what was a rain-curtailed match. "I remember that there was no proper food when we walked into the dressing room. We were all upset," Veda recalled. Harmanpreet was also nursing a shoulder injury that had been bothering her for a while. But when she came out to bat, she batted like she had been possessed by cricketing gods. Especially after reaching her century, it felt like no one could stop her. It was like she was taking out her frustrations on the ball. "These are special knocks that didn't happen every day in India. It just put a whole different perception on women's cricket. I think that is why it is so huge. It came at the right time for the fact that we could obviously reach the finals with that. The whole plan that we wanted to achieve was to get into the knockouts first for us to have that recognition back home. With that knock, I think everything just kind of aligned well for us," Veda said. "My overriding feeling for the semi-final against India is sort of being a little bit helpless, when Kaur got going," Lanning told the ICC Review. "We couldn’t do anything, like she just was hitting every ball we bowled for four, every plan we had, she had an answer for. She was just on another level, and it didn’t really matter what we tried or what I tried; it didn’t seem to make a difference. So, it was one of those games where it sort of got out of control and we couldn’t bring it back." The other side of the story While the recent boom for the women's game in India – better depth in talent, increased financial security and so on – could be traced back to that day in Derby, it wasn't immediate. Indian women didn't play another international match after the final at Lord's for six months; the push for Women's Premier League took much longer than that. Ironically enough, the impact of that match was much more significant for Australia. In September 2017 – just a few weeks after that July day in Derby – the Aussie squad got together in a meeting room at Brisbane’s National Cricket Centre and rewatched Harmanpreet's innings. "It was a bit of embarrassment; when you’re used to success and people are expecting success and it doesn’t turn out like that, it can be quite confronting," Australia coach Matthew Mott told cricket.com.au about that day. "But it is one we all look back on now and go, ‘that was the moment where we actually looked inside and looked at our team, warts and all’. It’s funny how you almost need those crucible moments, where everything pulls back to that point to start the trajectory up." Australia's current captain Alyssa Healy was behind the stumps that day as well. Asked in Vizag to reflect on how that innings ended up redefining Australian cricket too, Healy chuckled. "I've forgotten a bit about, actually a lot about the game, but you guys are pretty good at putting it on the telly at every opportunity possible," she said. "It just drove us to rethink our standards and the way we wanted to approach our cricket. For me personally, it gave me an opportunity to open the batting moving forward. For me personally, it was a real turning point. We've been really successful since that point." Indeed so. Australia went on a world record winning run in the 50-over format – 26 matches unbeaten, before India beat them again. Since the 2017 World Cup exit, they would also go on to win 40 out of the next 42 matches, the 40th one being the title in New Zealand back in 2022, which they are looking to defend in India this time. And just like that, under the Mott-Lanning combination, Australia reignited an era of dominance. On Sunday, when the two sides meet, Australia would still be the favourites – for the match, as they are for the tournament. But the fact that this is now nearly a battle of equals could well be traced back to that day in Derby and Harmanpreet Kaur's whirlwind knock.
