Arjuna Awards New Recipient - Harmanpreet Kaur Bhullar

Indian Women’s team batting sensation Harmanpreet Kaur has become the newest recipient to be awarded one of India's top sporting honours: the Arjuna Award. The BCCI nominated her along with Cheteshwar Pujara, for their contribution and efforts in the field of cricket.



 



Harman has become the 6th women’s cricket player, to be bestowed with this honour and garnered much fame after her sensational innings in the semi-finals of the Women’s World -Cup 2017. However, she had been nominated by the panel much before the Women in Blue's successful campaign in England; taking into account her previous exploits, that saved the team from many dire situations.



 



The entire cricket fraternity has welcomed these awards, as it will help promote women’s cricket at a national level. The journey this legend has travelled, is not less than a roller coaster ride, with many ups and downs, but fighting through these difficulties is what makes her a legend.



 



She is ranked 6 in the recent ICC ODI batting Rankings and also featured in the top 10 list in the T20 and All-Rounder rankings. During the World Cup in England, she hit the highest individual score in the World-cup semi-finals by both men and women. She also became the first Indian female cricket player to be signed by an international cricket league (WBBL- Australia).



 



Her story started, as a kid from Moga district (Punjab), where she began playing cricket along with her brother. Her talent was soon recognized by both the school administration and her coach Yadwinder Singh Sodhi, who trained her to represent the state at the national level. She was chosen to represent the national side in the year 2007, but her struggles actually began then, as she had to find a job to manage her expenses to play cricket.



 



She was finally offered a job by the Indian railways. She then began a new journey that routed her to shift over to the City that never sleeps (Mumbai). Right her successful performance in the World Cup, Harman was awarded the DSP post in Punjab. This proves that if perseverance and hard work are never halted, a denied opportunity always comes back.



 



Harman's idol is none other than the explosive and most dangerous batsman India has ever produced – Virender Sehwag. He was all praise for the Moga girl when she steered India to the finals at the WWC-2017.



 



As the statistics speak, she has an outstanding batting average of over 200, when she starts making her innings steady, and switches on her aggressive mode. Such explosive batting has always crucial to the team, and her finish at the world cup qualifiers is a moment worth remembering. 8 runs were needed from the last over, and she completed the match at the last ball, by hitting a glorious Six and 2-runs in the final balls to bring the Qualifier cup home.



 



The experience she gained at WBBL was crucial in taking the team into the finals of world cup this year; she is a player who comes to the front foot to help the ball sail in the air, across boundaries & even outside the stadium at times. The 28-year- old superstar also said that she liked to hit across those who she thinks to look tensed, playing with her strengths and sticking to her basics. Once she gets into her rhythm, there is no one who can stop her

innings.



 



She is a player who is more focused on the team score rather than her individual score and her major goal is to establish a win in every match she plays. In one of her interviews, Harman remarked that it was a pride and honour that they kept the Indian Flag flying high and her dream to play good cricket has come true. Thank you, Harman, for showing us that through discipline and hard work, dreams do come true. You proved that it doesn’t matter where you come from, but what you can achieve for your country.



 



We, the team Of Women's CricZone, congratulates the explosive super batsman India for the Arjuna Award. We look forward to seeing your sensational innings in the near coming future and shattering and breaking many more records.