Harmanpreet inks bat endorsement

Harmanpreet Kaur, who guided India to the final of the ICC World Cup 2017, became the first woman cricketer from the country to sign a bat endorsement deal with CEAT on Monday.

Harmanpreet, who signed a two-year deal with CEAT, joins the likes of Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane and Ishan Kishan. She will now be seen playing with a bat prominently displaying CEAT insignia in all formats of the game.

"I am delighted to be associated with CEAT that is already represented by icons of Indian cricket. Taking the momentum of 2017 forward I look forward to putting in consistent performances for the team this year," Harmanpreet said in a release. The Indian women's cricket team vicecaptain has been a consistent performer across multiple formats of the game. In the 2017 World Cup semi-final against Australia, she scored a careerbest 171, which is the highest individual score by an Indian in World Cup history. Vice President Marketing, CEAT Limited, Nitish Bajaj said: "The Indian Women's cricket team has been performing brilliantly over the years and we at CEAT strongly believe in supporting the sport." "We are proud to sign Harmanpreet Kaur as our first women cricketer on board, who has been an inspiration to budding cricketers on and off the field," Bajaj added.

Harmanpreet also became the first Indian cricketer to be signed by an overseas franchise in a T20 tournament, having played for Sydney Thunders in the 2016-17 Women's Big Bash League. The deal comes almost a year after the Indian women's team returned from a successful World Cup campaign. The players had been vocal about not getting endorsement deals.