Dealt with stomach cramps by hitting sixes: Harmanpreet Kaur

Harmanpreet Kaur, who smashed her way to a record hundred in the T20I World Cup opener against New Zealand, said that she dealt with stomach cramps by hitting sixes.

Kaur hit eight sixes and seven fours to get to the three-figure mark–the first by an Indian woman in T20Is. India eventually won the contest by 34 runs.

“Yesterday, I was having little bit back problem,” Kaur said after the match. “In the morning, I was not feeling well, when I came to the ground I was feeling a little low and getting some cramps,” said the batswoman, as quoted by The Indian Express.

She then revealed that the constant issues with the cramps made her devise a new plan to deal with it. Instead of running the singles and twosz she thought of going for for the big hits and it paid off for her.

“When initially I was running twos, I got a little cramp, after that the physio gave me medicine, and a little bit it settled down,” Kaur revealed.

“Then I thought instead of running too much, if I could I get more big shots … because you run too much, you get more cramps. Then I told Jemi (Jemimah Rodrigues), ‘if you give the strike to me, I can go for more big shots’,” she added further.

The memories of the right-handed Kaur bludgeoning her way to a mammoth 171 against Australia in the semi-finals of the women’s World Cup is still quite fresh. The batswoman, however also revealed that she wasn’t aware that she had gone on to become the first Indian woman to record a T20I ton, on Friday.

“I was not looking at how many runs I was getting, I was looking at how many we needed to win the game,” she said.

Adding that it was a good track to bat on, the hard-hitting batswoman also said that she was aware of the batting talent present in the New Zealand team, citing the examples of Suzie Bates and Sophie Devine.

“We knew they have really good batters, they have Sophie Devine and [Suzie] Bates, we knew if we scored just 150, we may not (win the game).

“I knew it was a good batting track, if I settle down, I can get the runs, that’s what I was thinking.”

The Indian captain nonetheless is hopeful of bigger things to come her way in the future.

“Yes, why not? Because every day is a learning day, today I learnt a lot,” she said.