Harmanpreet serves up a reminder of Harmonster

As the buzzer hooted to signal drinks during the India-Sri Lanka clash in Dubai, Harmanpreet Kaur, who had been slouching on her chair and gently massaging her neck, suddenly picked up two bats and galloped down the steps from the gallery to a wider space around the boundary edge.

One bat tucked behind the other, Harmanpreet went through the full range of motions of the kind she would practice at the driving range, focusing on her neck position and movements while completing her swing. Once happy with where she was at, Harmanpreet quickly jogged back up and pulled up a chair next to coach Amol Muzumdar.

The head coach had just returned after having a chat with openers Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma at the drinks interval. India had set themselves a strong base at 78 without loss; now it was time to inject momentum. After a quick chat with Muzumdar, Harmanpreet was ready to rumble having selected her weapon of destruction.

When Mandhana rocked back to pull Chamari Athapaththu to the deep-square-leg fence in the 13th over to bring up her half-century, Harmanpreet was fully charged, slapping the bat with her gloves. And when Mandhana was run out in the 13th over, Harmanpreet pranced to the middle and took guard at No. 3.

It's a spot that had become such a massive talking point in the lead-up to this tournament - India have tried as many as five options since Muzumdar became coach in December 2023 - that she put her hand up and decided to embrace the challenge head-on. It was now time for her to walk the talk with almost everything on the line.

India needed not just a win but a big one to steer clear of the net run rate conversations, at least momentarily. And the India captain served up a blockbuster, of the kind you knew she could play, but hadn't as often as she would've liked.

A part of the allure in watching Harmanpreet bat without scoreboard pressure is to see her induce fear in the bowlers. The quick trigger movement to off, where she sets herself to sweep, is followed by quickly getting into position with a crouched back knee that forms her base. The bat swing then comes into sync as she generates immense power. By now, the bat seems like a sledgehammer in her hands.

The ability to sweep anywhere between the arc from fine leg to wide-ish long-on can often have the bowlers contend with a lot of pressure even before they have delivered the ball. And when she executed on Wednesday, it felt like the coming together of a proper rediscovery and not reinvention. She made this possibly by simply reverting to her "in the zone" avatar where anything in her arc simply gets swept or slogged.

It can't be denied that Harmanpreet has been a victim of her own lofty standards. Derby 2017 made us believe she can be a miracle woman who can conjure magic out of nothing. And when it didn't come as often as Harmanpreet, and India, would've liked, it made you wonder if her best years were behind her.

All said, Wednesday's innings wasn't flawless. She attempted to paddle her first two deliveries and quickly realised with the bowlers giving her little pace to work with, it was more prudent trying to force the pace herself. When she premeditated a sweep, she survived a close lbw shout with a thin edge saving her through UltraEdge.

With five overs left, Harmanpreet was on 4 off 7, struggling for timing, not fully tuned to the pace and grip of the pitch that made it hard to score off spinners. And then a full toss from Sugandika Kumari unshackled her. As she stepped out to drill it over the infield, it was as if a weight had lifted off her shoulders; she has flicked on 'in the zone' mode.

Two balls later, this couldn't have been more evident when she unleashed her slog sweep for her first six. This shot truly got her into the elements, and because the bowlers weren't sure if she would slog or sweep, they attempted to take pace off. Harmanpreet showed her full range by bringing out a powerful, fine paddle, reminiscent of Sachin Tendulkar's off Shane Warne from the rough outside leg.

Harmanpreet should have been out in the 17th over when she hit a full toss straight to Inoka Ranaweera at cover. Had it been taken, it may have elicited chatter around how she flattered to deceive yet again. But like quality players do, she made Sri Lanka pay.

On 22 off 16 at the time, she went on to make 30 off the next 11 balls, during which she made a mockery of the fields, boldly accepting the challenge of clearing mid-off, not once, but twice, with bullet-like straight hits with razor-sharp precision, fueled by forearm strength and immense bottom-handed power to raise her half-century.

The knock laid the foundation for a massive win that India hope will have reinvigorated their T20 World Cup campaign. Everything about her innings from that dropped chance rolled back time to memories from over a decade ago, when she first made the world sit up and take note with a seminal century in a World Cup game against England at Brabourne Stadium, long before playing that epochal knock against Australia.

It may have only been a half-century, but in it was a Harmanpreet classic of old, where she was energised, outrightly dominant and in the zone.