10-man India’s defeat of Great Britain in the Paris Olympics quarterfinal is adequately described. However, the joy and the news value it created has overshadowed very important milestone. The Quarterfinal, sixth match for India at Paris, is 100th under the captaincy of Harmanpreet Singh.
Harmanpreet, who is already turned out to be a game changer, was designated as Captain in the aftermath of Tokyo Olympics. He has succeeded Manpreet Singh, now on his fourth Olympic mission, and led the side for the Asian Champions Trophy. Since then India has played 108 matches including six Indian matches that had gone by at Paris till semifinal. However, Harmanpreet Singh, in fact the senior team was rested for the Asia Cup, did not accompany the team. With this note, the events that Harmanpreet captained is given below.Harman’s record of matches he captained stood at 94 before Paris commenced. India has played six matches till now at Paris. The sixth Indian match – against Great Britain — marked his 100th.
HARMAPREET’S CAPTAINCY RECORD
| India after Tokyo till Paris | ||||||
| Event | P | W | D | L | GA | |
| Pro-league A | 12 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 54 | 30 |
| Pro-league B | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 10 |
| Pro-league A | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 15 | 12 |
| Pro-league B | 12 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 36 | 30 |
| Pro-league 2023-24 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 20 | 14 |
| Pro-league 2023-24 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 18 | 21 |
| Asian Champions Trophy | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 27 | 11 |
| Asian Champions Trophy | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 29 | 8 |
| Asia Cup | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 29 | 14 |
| Asian Games | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 68 | 9 |
| Commonwealth Games | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 30 | 14 |
| World Cup | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 17 | 5 |
| Australia Series | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 17 | 25 |
| TM Vs South Africa | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| TS Vs Australia | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 17 |
| Barcelona 4-Nation Cup | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 5 |
| 101 | 51 | 23 | 27 | 383 | 225 | |
What a way he led the landmark match!
Semifinal waiting to happen today (10.30 PM IST) is beginning of next century for the iconic player.
Kindly note: India toured SA this year and played against Netherlands etc but those are not considered official. Only one Test Match against the host comes under official.
Harmanpreet Singh did play the Asia Cup mentioned above.
Photo courtesy: Yan Huckendubler