Women’s Asia Cup 2026, BAN-W vs IND-W 1st Semi-Final Match Preview

Big picture – Can India’s batting perform to full potential?

If Bangladesh take the route of seeking inspiration from the past to bring down heavyweights India on Thursday, they will have to squint their eyes and go back to pre-Covid times for their last victory against them in the Women’s Asia Cup. India have had the better of their neighbours over their last eight meetings, and last lost to Bangladesh in a T20I three years ago, when a very similar-looking Indian batting line-up was kept to 102 for 9.

Before that, Bangladesh had shocked India with back-to-back wins that culminated in their maiden Asia Cup title, by again stifling India to an underwhelming 112 for 9.

The Bangladesh team of today – as their recent fights have shown over the last two World Cups – is a version far improved from the ones of 2018 and 2023. They have scared teams like Australia and England (ODI World Cup) and India (T20 World Cup) in the last 12 months and they recently beat the higher-ranked Pakistan in the UK by keeping them to 100 for 8.

It is this bowling strength that Bangladesh must bank on to try and bring down India, whose batting has stuttered every now and then, including a collapse of 8 for 46 against Thailand earlier in the tournament. India have had middle-order issues for a while now – it’s one of the things that kept them from a knockout berth in the last T20 World Cup – and Bangladesh will be itching to strike while the iron is hot.

They have laid the foundations in the last 10 days by routing Indonesia for 58, making Sri Lanka sweat in a chase of 115, and suffocating UAE’s batters to 69 for 9 with semi-finals qualification on the line.

India WWWLW (last five completed T20Is, most recent first)
Bangladesh WLWLL

In the spotlight – Pratika Rawal and Marufa Akter

Pratika Rawal, India’s No. 3 for this tournament in place of the injured Jemimah Rodrigues, hasn’t quite shown the promise in this format that she has in ODIs. Her 36 runs in three innings have come at a strike rate of just 109.09, against some of the lower-ranked teams in the world. Now into the knockouts, the time is ripe for Rawal to step up against one of the stronger bowling attacks of the tournament, especially if one of the openers doesn’t get going.

Swing bowler Marufa Akter is doing Marufa Akter things at this Asia Cup. She has struck in her opening spell in each of her three games so far – including the big scalp of Chamari Athapathuthu for 1. She has made the ball talk with her prodigious swing, and is the top wicket-taker in this Asia Cup among pace bowlers, with an economy rate of 3.27. She will hold the key for Bangladesh as they come up against a top order comprising Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma and Rawal.

After constant chopping and changing during the T20 World Cup in the UK, India have gone unchanged in the three games of this tournament. They will be expected to field the same XI again.

India (probable): 1 Smriti Mandhana, 2 Shafali Verma, 3 Pratika Rawal, 4 Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), 5 Richa Ghosh (wk), 6 Bharti Fulmali, 7 Deepti Sharma, 8 Prema Rawat, 9 Kranti Gaud, 10 N Shree Charani, 11 Nandani Sharma.

Bangladesh have used 14 players, in comparison, including a debut for 17-year-old allrounder Farjana Easmin. They may not make too many changes this time as the two players who came into the XI on Tuesday – Rabeya Khan and Sharmin Akter – played starring roles in beating UAE.

Bangladesh (probable): 1 Juairiya Ferdous, 2 Nigar Sultana (capt & wk), 3 Sobhana Mostary, 4 Dilara Akter, 5 Shorna Akter, 6 Rabeya Khan, 7 Sharmin Akter, 8 Nahida Akter, 9 Sultana Khatun, 10 Marufa Akter, 11 Fahima Khatun.

Runs have been hard to come by at this Asia Cup with 160 breached just once so far – by India against Hog Kong – in hot and humid conditions. As expected, the conditions have been fairly spin-friendly and the slower bowlers from both teams will be licking their lips on Thursday evening.

Teams batting first have won eight of the 12 games so far even though the toss-winning captain has opted to chase nine times. The weather in Dubai could also be a factor in that apart from the usual trend of chasing in T20s. The temperature is expected to hover above 35 degrees Celsius even when the game starts at 6.30pm local time, and hardly dip below 34 degrees for the next three or four hours.

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