Indian women's cricket team skipper Harmanpreet Kaur was conferred with the Padma Shri by President Droupadi Murmu on Monday in New Delhi. President Murmu presented the prestigious award to Kaur at the Civil Investiture Ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Kaur received the Padma Shri following a landmark year for Indian women's cricket. In 2025, she captained India to their maiden ICC Women's Cricket World Cup title on home soil, leading the team to a historic victory over South Africa in the final at Navi Mumbai.
The triumph made her the first Indian captain to lift the Women's World Cup and only the second Indian skipper overall to win a World Cup at home after MS Dhoni. Kaur has played 164 ODIs for India, scoring 4,541 runs at an average of 37.22, including seven centuries and 24 half-centuries.
In T20Is, she has amassed 3,991 runs from 195 matches, featuring one century and 16 fifties. In the longest format, Kaur has appeared in seven Tests, scoring 230 runs at an average of 23.00, including a half-century.
Apart from Kaur, former Indian skipper Rohit Sharma, Paralympic gold medal-winning high-jumper Praveen Kumar, Indian women's hockey goalkeeper Savita Punia, veteran coach Baldev Singh, K Pajanivel, and Bhagwandas Raikwar will all receive Padma Shri.
Vladimir Mestvirishvili will be honoured with the Padma Shri posthumously, while tennis legend Vijay Amritraj is set to receive the Padma Bhushan.
What's next for Harmanpreet Kaur?
High on confidence after winning the ODI World Cup, Harmanpreet will lead India women in the ICC Women's T20 World Cup, to be hosted in United Kingdom. Runners-up in the 2020 edition, India have been put in Group A, alongside Australia, Bangladesh, Netherlands, Pakistan and South Africa.
India will play a three-match T20I series against England prior to the Women's T20 World Cup. The Indian team will begin their ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026 campaign against Pakistan in Birmingham on June 14 and then face the Netherlands (June 17), followed by South Africa (June 21).
India will next take on Bangladesh (June 25) before their final group-stage match against Australia on June 28.
India squad for ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026
Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Smriti Mandhana (VC), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Bharti Fulmali, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (WK), Sree Charani, Yastika Bhatia (WK), Nandni Sharma, Arundhati Reddy, Renuka Thakur, Kranti Gaud, Shreyanka Patil, Radha Yadav.
