Women’s Asia Cup 2026: The Indian women’s cricket team recorded a lopsided 40-run win over Bangladesh in the first semi-final of the Women’s Asia Cup. With a win in this crucial encounter played at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, India set an unprecedented record of entering the final for the 10th consecutive time in the history of the tournament. Along with this, the Indian team has maintained its tradition of playing the final in every edition of the Asia Cup.
The pitch was proving to be very difficult and slow for the Indian team who won the toss and elected to bat first. However, opener Shefali Verma continued to attack the opposition bowlers. Shefali played a blistering innings of 64 runs in just 40 balls with the help of 7 fours and 3 sixes. Shefali scored runs at a strike rate of 160 when other top batsmen struggled. Apart from that, Pratika Rawal contributed 20 runs, Richa Ghosh 21 runs and captain Harmanpreet Kaur contributed an unbeaten 24 runs, India made a respectable score of 149 runs for 6 wickets in 20 overs.
Bangladesh’s batting collapsed: The powerplay itself put the team under pressure
Chasing a winning target of 150 runs, the Bangladesh team got off to a very slow start. In the Powerplay, the team could score only 26 runs after losing 1 wicket. Bangladeshi batsmen were seen struggling to score runs against the disciplined pace of the Indian bowlers. They were never able to get back into the match throughout the innings and managed to score only 109 runs for the loss of 7 wickets in the allotted 20 overs.
Deepti Sharma’s spin caught in the trap
Star all-rounder Deepti Sharma was the most successful bowler from India. He took 3 important wickets for just 26 runs in his 4 overs. Apart from Deepti, Nandini Sharma also took 2 wickets with brilliant bowling, while Sri Charani and Prema Rawat took 1 wicket each to keep Bangladesh well away from the target. With this glorious win, the Indian team is now fully prepared for the title fight.