On Wednesday, the world finally witnessed the very first match of much-anticipated cricket tournament The Hundred with some of the biggest names of women’s international cricket joining forces and battling each other for the Manchester Originals and the Oval Invincibles.

One such performance came off the bat of Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, who made her tournament debut as a member of the Originals and lit up The Oval with a barrage of boundaries in her short yet impactful innings.

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Coming to bat at two-down, Kaur collated a powerful 29 runs off just 16 deliveries while adding to her team’s cause towards picking the first win of the tournament, period. During her time at the crease, the 32-year-old went on to smash six fours. Yes, 24 out of her 29 runs came from the ball racing across the ropes. 

By the time Tash Farrant tricked the Indian batter into giving up an easy catch, she had done enough damage as the Originals reached the 108-run mark in just 84 deliveries. 

Fans, cricketers and other critics of the game saw Kaur’s performance from all corners of the world and were left thoroughly impressed and entertained. However, one of these famous big names belonged to England’s Sam Billings, who went on to pay a special compliment to her:

Harmanpreet Kaur is a gun!

— Sam Billings (@sambillings) July 21, 2021

“Harmanpreet Kaur is a gun!” he wrote talking about the aggression with which she rose to the occasion and played the knock. Unfortunately, not all of the Indian captain’s fans were able to comprehend Billings’ intentions behind the tweet and thought that the Englishman was “trying on her”.

As a result, many jumped on his Twitter feed:

Ayee hamari ladki pe line marna band kar

— shena brar 🦋 (@she__nah) July 22, 2021

Don't try on her..! She won't marry a non-indian

— Rishab Agrawal (@Rishab__08) July 22, 2021

Bhai Asian chahiye kya , yaha log ko bas big chahiye
Do you want Asian ? People here jusr want big..

— Vibhanshu Dubey (@vibhanshu06) July 22, 2021

@ImHarmanpreet bhai Hamara sis ko line derahekya @sambillings good bro you are great

— M (@MidhunNair__) July 22, 2021

Sam bro .. katega tera bhi@sambillings

— Swapnil Srivastava🇮🇳 (@weRabbit12) July 22, 2021

Regardless of the misunderstanding, Kaur’s side missed out on winning the first-ever match of The Hundred as the Invincibles’ skipper Dane van Niekerk played a captain’s knock, scored an impressive and unbeaten 56-run innings off 42 deliveries and guided her side to victory. For her exceptional performance, the South African cricketer was honoured with the ‘Player of the Match’ award. 

Harmanpreet Kaur will next be seen in action on July 25 when the Manchester Originals take on the Birmingham Pheonix at the Old Trafford.

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