When a 21-year-old Harmanpreet Kaur made her debut against Pakistan in a World Cup match in 2009, women’s cricket in India was still treated like an afterthought. Matches weren’t televised. Grounds were half-empty. Facilities were basic at best.

Players weren’t chasing fame; they were chasing recognition.

Harman was a young girl from Moga, Punjab; playing for a team that barely had resources to train properly. Yet, what she carried within her was rare: belief. The kind of belief that grows only in silence, away from applause.

Four years later, when India hosted the 2013 World Cup, things hadn’t improved much. Harman still had to make peace with the fact that the men’s game drew headlines while the women’s team quietly boarded economy flights. India crashed out early that year, but Har

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