{"id":242766,"date":"2025-11-04T05:57:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T05:57:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/242766\/"},"modified":"2025-11-04T05:57:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T05:57:13","slug":"india-legend-asks-harmanpreet-kaur-to-step-down-hand-captaincy-to-29-year-old-cricket-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/242766\/","title":{"rendered":"India Legend Asks Harmanpreet Kaur To Step Down, Hand Captaincy To 29-Year-Old | Cricket News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last Updated:November 03, 2025, 19:37 IST<\/p>\n

Shantha Rangaswamy requests BCCI to appoint Smriti Mandhana as Indian women’s cricket skipper, suggesting Harmanpreet Kaur can excel without leadership.\"India's<\/p>\n

India’s players celebrate with the trophy after their win over South Africa in the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup final. (AP Photo)<\/p>\n

The first captain of the Indian women\u2019s cricket team, Shantha Rangaswamy, has said that Harmanpreet Kaur can contribute more if she is relieved of the burden of captaincy, urging BCCI to bring in Smriti Mandhana as the new skipper, while Harmanpreet continues as a player.<\/p>\n

Rangaswamy emphasised that any change should be made with the side\u2019s long-term future in mind, noting that the next ODI World Cup is slated for 2029 and the T20 World Cup will take place in the United Kingdom in 2026.<\/p>\n

Star opener Mandhana, who is 29, is the obvious choice for a new skipper, Rangaswamy said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is overdue. Because Harman, as a batter and a fielder, is brilliant. Yes. But tactically, she can fumble at times. I feel she can contribute more if she is without the burden of captaincy,” Rangaswamy said while speaking to\u00a0PTI.<\/p>\n

\u201cSee, when it comes after a success like this (World Cup win), it will not be taken well, but in the interest of Indian cricket and in Harman\u2019s own interest, I think she can contribute much more as a batter without the burden of captaincy,” Rangaswamy added.<\/p>\n

The former India player cited Rohit Sharma\u2019s example, noting how selectors chose to move on from him for the team\u2019s greater good, even after he had led India to the Champions Trophy title earlier this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn our days, batting used to be the weaker link. Now batting has a settled look, but bowling is a concern. Fielding, too, can be a lot better. Australia lost only because they didn\u2019t have a good bowling attack,” Rangaswamy said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say Pakistan and Bangladesh had better bowling attacks. The batters did the job for us,” Rangaswamy added.<\/p>\n

Rangaswamy predicted that while reaching the 2017 final made women\u2019s cricket popular in India, Sunday night\u2019s win against South Africa will spark an explosion of young girls taking up the sport.<\/p>\n

First Published:<\/p>\n

November 03, 2025, 19:37 IST<\/p>\n

News<\/a> cricket<\/a> India Legend Asks Harmanpreet Kaur To Step Down, Hand Captaincy To 29-Year-OldDisclaimer: Comments reflect users\u2019 views, not News18\u2019s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use<\/a> and Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last Updated:November 03, 2025, 19:37 IST Shantha Rangaswamy requests BCCI to appoint Smriti Mandhana as Indian women’s cricket…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":242767,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[10226,1721,91397,102027,102028,102029,68854,101,30688,56,54,55,102030],"class_list":{"0":"post-242766","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cricket","8":"tag-bcci","9":"tag-cricket","10":"tag-harmanpreet-kaur","11":"tag-indian-womens-cricket-team-captain","12":"tag-odi-world-cup-2029","13":"tag-shantha-rangaswamy","14":"tag-smriti-mandhana","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-t20-world-cup-2026","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom","19":"tag-unitedkingdom","20":"tag-womens-cricket-in-india"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242766\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}