After thumping hosts Japan in the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games women’s cricket quarterfinals, India, under Harmanpreet Kaur, is ready for the Bangladesh challenge in their last-four match at Nisshin on Sunday. Needless to say, another win will mean at least a silver medal for the defending champions. But we all know, the Indian team, which recently won the Asia Cup in a triumphant manner, is looking at nothing but a gold medal. Anything less than that wouldn’t really be considered success. The Indians are the strongest team in the region, and expectations are higher than ever.
Frankly, the match against Japan was a nothing contest. After Harmanpreet won the toss and decided to bowl first at the Kargogi Athletic Park, the hosts folded for an embarrassing 57 in the last over of the innings. India opener Shafali Verma then smashed a 15-ball 40 not out to lead the way as the team took the contest by eight wickets with 90 balls to spare. All things considered, Bangladesh won’t be an easy contest for Harmanpreet’s bunch. The current politically charged atmosphere between the two countries is going to provide extra spice. During their match in the Asia Cup semifinals earlier this month in Dubai, Bangladesh captain Nigar Sultana refused to shake hands with Harmanpreet at the toss and that made the headlines for days. It will be interesting to see what happens this time around. The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has since washed its hands of the matter.
India enjoy a dominating lead in head-to-head. There have been 25 T20I contests between these two teams, with India winning 22 of them and the rest going Bangladesh’s way. The biggest win the Bangladeshis have registered against India was in the 2018 Asia Cup when they won the final in Malaysia. The last time they won against India was in 2023.
{{/usCountry}}India enjoy a dominating lead in head-to-head. There have been 25 T20I contests between these two teams, with India winning 22 of them and the rest going Bangladesh’s way. The biggest win the Bangladeshis have registered against India was in the 2018 Asia Cup when they won the final in Malaysia. The last time they won against India was in 2023.
{{/usCountry}}While India go into tomorrow’s game as red-hot favourites, they can have a bad day as they did in 2018. In fact in that tournament, they lost to Bangladesh twice. So, India should not take Bangladesh lightly; they can very well upset them. But on paper, that looks like a very distant possibility. Shafali has been in terrific form of late. Smriti Mandhana, who didn’t bat against Japan, has been in good touch too. In the Asia Cup final, she had made a nice 39-ball 59. Then, of course, Harmanpreet is there. But more than their batters, India would look to their spinners to do the job. The combo of Deepti Sharma (the highest wicket-taker in the Asia Cup with 14 wickets) and Shree Charani (12 wickets) will hold the key. Charani was fantastic against Japan too, and her figures of 4/10 went a long way towards India comfortably claiming the contest.
It may be noted that Bangladesh’s quarterfinal against China was washed out without a single ball being bowled, and they advanced to the semis against India on the basis of their better ranking. There is a chance of rain tomorrow but luckily not during the match hours, which means Bangladesh will effectively play their first game of the event. As far as the pitch is concerned, it should largely support batters as we have seen in the previous three games.
By the way, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are playing in the second semifinal tomorrow. Their match will start at 5:30 am, while the India-Bangladesh encounter will start five hours later at 10:30 am.
Squads:
India: Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Gunalan Kamalini, Harmanpreet Kaur(c), Bharti Fulmali, Richa Ghosh(w), Deepti Sharma, Shreyanka Patil, Shree Charani, Kranti Gaud, Nandani Sharma, Renuka Singh Thakur, Arundhati Reddy, Radha Yadav
Bangladesh: Dilara Akter, Juairiya Ferdous, Sobhana Mostary, Nigar Sultana(w/c), Shorna Akter, Sharmin Akhter, Fahima Khatun, Rabeya Khan, Nahida Akter, Sultana Khatun, Marufa Akter, Ritu Moni, Sarmin Sultana, Shanjida Akter Meghla, Fariha Trisna