Even when she was barely as tall as the bat in her hand, Harmanpreet Kaur preferred to let it do all the talking. "She used to be the only girl on the ground. But the more the bowlers tried to rattle her, the more determined she would get and score runs off them. She was never uncomfortable. It was the ego of the boys that took a beating," recalls Harmandar Singh Bhullar, who is proud to be known as the father of the cricketer who smashed a riotous 170-plus in the semifinals of the recently concluded ICC Women's World Cup.

It was he who gifted Harmanpreet a plastic bat-ball set when she was about three. Little had he imagined that child's play would one day develop into a professional pursuit, the kind that would elicit willing suspension of disbelief from cricket lovers across the globe.

The 28-year-old Harmanpreet's knock of 171 runs from 115 balls against Australia in the semifinal of the World Cup series propelled her to instant stardom. The score is considered the best ever by a woman cricketer in an ODI match. In the finals at Lord's, she made 51 against England. And though this knock was not enough to help India win the trophy, Harmanpreet's recent exploits have resulted in her breaking into the top ten of the women's ICC rankings.

"India may have noticed her now but ask those who know her and they will tell you that her success is no a surprise," says Hemjit Kaur, who teaches at the Guru Nanak College in central Punjab's Moga. "My sister has been like this for a decade now," she adds.

Harmandar, who was himself a district-level volleyball and basketball player, would often accompany Harmanpreet to the grounds of Guru Nanak College. This was in 2003-2006. The S.K. School in Talwandi Bhai, where she was a student, didn't have a girls' cricket team.

It was not long before she became a sensation. Scores of people would turn up at the grounds to applaud her audacious stroke play.

When news of these accomplishments reached the ears of the principal of S.K. School, Kiranpreet Kaur, she couldn't believe it. "I heard she was a very aggressive batswoman. I was surprised. She was a very shy student in class."

Harmanpreet was in her early teens in 2003, when, against the backdrop of the World Cup cricket, television presenter Mandira Bedi was urging women to step out of their homes and enjoy a game of gully cricket. But it was Virender Sehwag and his feats that inspired Harmanpreet. She would often trade her cricket game cards with other cricketers' pictures and statistics for Sehwag's. The walls of their home in Moga were covered with Sehwag's posters. "You wouldn't believe if I said she worshipped him," says Harmandar.

But her cricket career would most likely not have been what it is had it not been for Kamaldeesh Singh Sodhi.

Kamaldeesh, who ran a cricket academy at Gian Jyoti School in Darapur, a few kilometres away from S.K. School, noted her skills with the bat and made an offer Harmandar couldn't refuse. Harmanpreet could stay in the hostel and practise cricket while pursing her Plus Two studies. All expenses would be taken care of by the school and the academy.

That did it. There was no looking back thereafter.

"She was different because she was brought up as a son and not as a daughter," says Yadvinder Singh, son of Kamaldeesh and Harmanpreet's first professional coach at the Gian Jyoti Cricket Academy. He says it was obvious from the outset that she was set for bigger things. "She was the only girl who hit sixes in the inter-district matches."

In time, she came to represent Punjab at the School Games Federation of India's all-India competition, and she was barely 18 when she made it to the Punjab women's cricket team.

She debuted in India's ODI and Twenty20 teams in 2009, at the age of 20, but had to wait another five years before she could play her first Test match. Today, of course, she is considered primarily a one-day and Twenty20 specialist because of her aggressive approach to batting. She is ambidextrous and this makes her a formidable fielder as well.

"She can turn the match on its head anytime. A team always goes into a match with a plan but Harman would always have Plan B and Plan C. She backs herself up no matter what the situation is," says R.P. Singh, who was her coach when she was captain of the Punjab team between 2012 and 2014. Post 2014, Harmanpreet moved to the Railways; it is said she was persuaded by the former India player, Diana Eduljee. The move did not go down well with Punjab though.

Rekha Yadav, executive director of sports and secretary of the Railway Sports Promotion Board, is effusive. "We had no doubt about her enormous talent. We finally succeeded in 2014 and we are very proud to have her represent us," she tells The Telegraph. The Railways announced an out-of-turn promotion recently after her 171-run knock.

It was not just the Railways that were watching her closely. The Australian Big Bash T20 league teams also wanted her. The Sydney Thunder team snapped her up in 2016, making her the first woman cricketer from India to sign up for the league.

"The thing that really set her apart from other Indian cricketers, and indeed most other female cricketers, was her explosive hitting. She could make the transition from nudging the ball around for singles to clearing the ropes with consecutive sixes. It was like flicking a switch," says Nick Cummins, former general manager of Sydney Thunder and current CEO of Cricket Tasmania.

Harry for her family and friends, Harmanpreet got another nickname while playing in the Big Bash. "One of the first meals she had when she was in Australia was a chicken parmigiana (known as a "parmy" in Australia). The girls quickly named her "Parmy" instead of "Harmy". Getting a nickname is a sure sign of acceptance, and the Thunder girls were quick to make her one of their own," says Cummins.

With two stalwarts - Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami - on the verge of retirement, the onus of leading Team India will come to fall on vice-captain Harmanpreet.

Will she be able to change the way women's cricket is perceived in India? With cautious optimism, Harmandar eludes abstract inquiries. He'd rather engage with what is possible around his daughter in the time to come. "The whole country watched the semifinals and final. I hope my daughter will play for another 10 years and we will bring the World Cup home at least once." Harmandar has known his daughter not to disappoint.

Top Two

Jhulan Goswami: The Chakdah girl

It was exactly 10 years ago that Jhulan Goswami won the ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year award. “Please call me the Chakdah [small town in Bengal’s Nadia where she hails from] girl, not the Chak De girl,” she declared after she won the award. She was captaining the team a year later.

Ten years on, she is the highest wicket-taker in women’s ODIs, breaking a record held by Australia’s Cathryn Fitzpatrick. Jhulan has been considered the world’s fastest woman bowler for a few years now. More importantly, she remains the workhorse of the Indian cricket team’s open bowling attack. Like Harmanpreet, Jhulan grew up playing cricket with boys of her age group. Despite opposition from her parents, she gave up her education after her Class X boards and dedicated herself to cricket. In 2002, she made her national debut.

The lanky fast bowler may not have won the World Cup but her performance has been sterling. With five wickets short of 200 in the ODIs, she is on the verge of a milestone that any other woman cricketer may take years to surpass. Her average of 21.95 in the ODIs is among the very best too. And in the 10 Tests she has played, she has taken 40 wickets with an average of 16.62.

Mithali Raj: Footwork is all

She always wanted to become a famous Bharatanatyam dancer. But her parents pushed her to take up cricket after a family friend remarked that she had the “spark”.

At 17 she made her debut in the ODIs for India, with a century against Ireland at Milton Keynes. Her debut 114 still remains her highest score. That was in 1999.

Mithali’s Test debut happened in 2002. That year she became the highest run-getter in a Test innings, scoring 214 at Taunton against England. The record would be broken two years later, but there was no doubt about the exceptional talent at hand.

The Hyderabadi, like many cricketers from the city, is possessed of nimble footwork and supple wrists. She, in fact, credits Bharatanatyam for her footwork. But she is not the fastest between the wickets as was clear from the India-England final at Lord’s recently.

Mithali has led the team to two World Cup finals. She managed to win over cricket lovers but not Lady Luck. With 6,190 runs in 186 matches and an average of 51.58 in ODIs, she is the highest run-getter in women’s cricket and her record isn’t likely to broken anytime soon.