A hanging picture of India captain Harmanpreet Kaur from the ICC Ladies’s World Cup remaining has been named the Wisden {Photograph} of the 12 months 2025, celebrating a defining second in India’s historic triumph.
The {photograph}, captured by Getty Photographs photographer Matthew Lewis, reveals Harmanpreet accumulating the ball throughout the remaining towards the South Africa ladies’s nationwide cricket workforce on the DY Patil Stadium. India went on to safe a memorable 52-run victory, clinching their maiden senior ICC ladies’s international title.
Lewis, who has now received the celebrated award 3 times after earlier successes in 2014 and 2022, mentioned the picture was born out of a spontaneous inventive thought throughout the match.
“In the course of the remaining, the DJ requested spectators to activate their cellphone torches,” Lewis mentioned. “I observed Harmanpreet calling for the ball and thought it will be enjoyable to create the phantasm that there have been extra cricket balls than the precise one.”
The consequence was a visually partaking {photograph} that performs on perspective, resembling a ‘spot the ball’ puzzle whereas capturing the power and ambiance of a contemporary, floodlit remaining.
IMAGE CAPTURES UNIQUE MOMENT
The {photograph} stood out amongst this 12 months’s entries for its mix of technical high quality and creativity. It was judged one of the best throughout classes that included males’s skilled cricket, ladies’s skilled cricket and leisure cricket.
Famend cricket photographer Patrick Eagar, who was a part of the judging panel, praised the picture for its originality and emotional enchantment.
“This 12 months’s winner certified on the primary two factors however had that further factor of humor,” Eagar mentioned. “It is a up to date {photograph} from a contemporary sport and it simply makes you smile. It’s kind of of a puzzle too.”
Lewis’s entry had already received the ladies’s skilled cricket class earlier than being chosen as the general winner.
OTHER WINNERS ALSO RECOGNIZED
Within the males’s skilled class, Andrew Boyers was honored for his {photograph} of Australia captain Pat Cummins taking a pointy return catch to dismiss South Africa’s Marco Jansen throughout the World Take a look at Championship remaining.
The leisure cricket award went to Jed Leicester for his picture of the Overstone Park Underneath-13s women celebrating at Lord’s regardless of dropping to Bexley within the ECB Junior Nationwide Championship remaining.
All successful images will likely be featured within the 2026 version of the Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, which is scheduled for publication on April 16.
The popularity of Harmanpreet’s picture not solely highlights a inventive photographic second but additionally immortalises a landmark achievement in Indian ladies’s cricket.
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