Women’s Asia Cup 2026: The Indian team will play the ‘Semi-final 1’ of the Women’s Asia Cup 2026 against Bangladesh on Thursday. The winner will advance to the title match on September 13. Having topped Group A, India enters this contest as the favorite. However, occasional vulnerabilities in their batting line-up have been evident, a weaknesses that Bangladesh will aim to fully exploit.
India just one victory away from final
The Indian women’s team is eyeing a record-extending eighth Asia Cup title. The ‘Women in Blue’ have won the title four times in the ODI format and three times in the T20 format. Although India won all three of their opening matches in this edition, a collapse against Thailand—where they lost their ninth wicket at 137 runs after being 108 for 3—highlighted shortcomings in their batting. But the Indian team made good use of a 4-day break to recover and practice, leaving everyone fully prepared for the semifinal.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh also needs to address its own batting issues; however, in-form pacer Marufa Akter has been impressive, maintaining a brilliant economy rate of 3.27 while bowling her opening spells throughout the tournament. Her ability to move the new ball could pose a threat to the Indian top order. Pratika Rawal, batting at number three in place of the injured Jemimah Rodrigues, has scored 36 runs across three innings at a strike rate of 109.09. This high-stakes semi-final offers her the perfect opportunity to make a crucial contribution against Bangladesh.
“Whenever I go to bat, it just starts from zero”
Shafali Verma has a tremendous record against Bangladesh and has scored over 200 total international runs against them across her Women’s T20 International career, highlighted by multiple half-centuries. In the T20 World Cup this year, she blazed a match-winning 53 runs off 34 balls in Manchester. She also holds a high strike-rate against Bangladesh with multiple fifties.
Before the match, on Wednesday, she told The Crichub, “As a batter, whenever I go to bat, it just starts from zero. But what came from that innings is just confidence. So, I will take that confidence and just start from zero again.” About the conditions in Dubai, Shafali Verma said, “These conditions are similar to India. So, we all know the conditions—there is a bit of turn in the pitch. We are all prepared for that, and I also know about the conditions. I just go out there, take my time, and enjoy it.”
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