Indian Women's Team Defeats Bangladesh in Asian Games Semi-final and Advances to Final Against Sri Lanka

India won the Women's T20 Asia Cup title after defeating Sri Lanka in the final match held at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday. The Indian team secured the victory by a margin of 72 runs.

During the game, India scored an impressive 183 runs for five wickets. The success was largely attributed to the brilliant half-century performances of two opening batsmen: Smriti Mandhana, who scored 59 runs, and Shafali Verma, who scored 68 runs.

In response, Sri Lanka was bowled out for 111 runs on the last ball of their innings. In this match, spinners Sri Charani, who recorded a stat line of 4-1-20-4, and Dipti Sharma, whose statistics were 4-0-19-3, played a decisive role.

The composition of the Women's Asia Cup 2026 final has been determined. The final match between the teams of India and Sri Lanka will take place on Sunday, September 13, at the International Cricket Stadium in Dubai. Prior to this, in the semi-final held on Friday, September 11, Sri Lanka defeated Pakistan by 4 wickets, thereby earning the right to participate in the title match.

Previously, both teams met in a final where Sri Lanka managed to beat India and win the Asia Cup title for the first time.

In the semi-final against Pakistan, Sri Lanka was set a target of 131 runs. The start of the game was extremely unsuccessful for Sri Lanka, which lost four batsmen, scoring only 33 runs in the first 6.2 overs. The situation was saved by Harshita Samarawickrama and Kavisha Dilhari, who built an important partnership of 67 runs for the fifth wicket.

Harshita Samarawickrama contributed to the game by scoring 36 runs off 31 balls, including two fours. Kavisha Dilhari added another 33 runs off 33 balls, using four fours. However, Pakistan's captain, Fatima Sana, managed to dismiss Harshita Samarawickrama and Kavisha Dilhari in one over, once again putting Sri Lanka under pressure. At that time, the team's score was 109/6, and they needed to score 22 runs in the last three overs.

At the decisive moment, Nilashka Silva (not out, 18 runs) and Kaushani Nuthangana (not out, 10 runs) brought the team to the target, leaving 8 balls. Despite Fatima taking four wickets in bowling, her team failed to capitalize on this advantage, and Sri Lanka won the match despite the pressure.

Earlier, when Pakistan came out to bat after losing the toss, the situation was also difficult. In 10 overs, their score was 52/4. After this, captain Fatima Sana took charge, scoring 47 runs off 36 balls not out. During this innings, Fatima hit four fours and two sixes. Thanks to her performance, the Pakistani team managed to reach a score of 130 runs while losing five batsmen.

The clash between India and Sri Lanka in the final will recall the events of the 2024 title match. In that previous edition, Sri Lanka defeated India by 8 wickets, winning the Women's Asia Cup title for the first time. Nevertheless, the Indian team is currently in excellent form, having reached the final by winning four consecutive matches. India finished first in the group stage, winning all three matches, and defeated Bangladesh in the semi-final by 40 runs. Team Harmanpreet Kaur aims to win the eighth Women's Asia Cup title by defeating Sri Lanka. For her part, Sri Lanka intends to defend its title.

Despite the final score of the India versus Pakistan match in the Women's Asia Cup 2026, held on Saturday (September 5), being one-sided, the behavior of Pakistani captain Fatima Sana drew the most attention. Her manner of sending the player off after dismissing her raised many questions.

In the match played at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, the Indian team scored a modest total of 56 runs. While chasing these runs, Shafali Verma showed determination by hitting a six on the very first ball. However, she managed to score only 12 runs and was forced to leave the field in the second over. Fatima Sana's ball hit her on the edge of the bat and immediately went into the bowler's hands.

After Fatima Sana dismissed Shafali Verma, declaring her out via caught and bowled, she accompanied her with a 'cold' farewell, which suddenly heated up the atmosphere on the field. Fatima pointed to the fielding team to signal to Shafali that it was time for her to return to the bench. Fortunately, the Indian batter did not respond to this gesture, otherwise, the situation could have escalated.

Subsequently, Fatima Sana sent Pratik Rawal to the pavilion with a personal score of 4 runs. She then dismissed Smriti Mandhana via LBW, dealing the third blow to India. By taking three wickets in the powerplay, Fatima achieved a significant feat: she became the fourth player in the squad to twice take three wickets in the powerplay in Women's T20 International.

Although the Pakistani captain dealt early blows to India by dismissing Shafali Verma and others, these attempts were not enough to secure a victory for Pakistan. After the three dismissals brought the score to 29 runs, the Indian captains Harmanpreet Kaur and Dipti Sharma took charge. Both batters played cautiously, preventing Pakistan from gaining further chances.

Dipti hit a four through mid-wicket off Nashra Sandhu's ball in the seventh over. Following this, Harmanpreet hit a six in the ninth over, securing India's victory by 7 runs. Prior to this, Indian spinners had restricted Pakistan's innings to just 55 runs. Shri Charni, Prema Rawat, Shafali Verma, and Dipti Sharma prevented the Pakistani batters from playing freely. Pakistan's score when three wickets fell was 27 runs, but a series of dismissals followed. Besides Shawal Julfikar (14 runs) and Munib Ali (13 runs), no Pakistani batter managed to reach ten runs.