Asian Games, women's cricket: Can Bangladesh challenge in-form India?
What's the story
The Indian women's cricket team, the reigning champions, will take on Bangladesh in the second semi-final of the Asian Games on Sunday. India are coming off a stellar Asia Cup campaign where they defeated Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh to lift their eighth title. They have been in top form with six consecutive wins since their last T20I defeat against Australia in June. This includes a thumping eight-wicket victory over Japan in the recent quarter-final clash.
Details
Pitch report and other details
The match will be played at Korogi Sports Park, starting at 10:30am IST.
Spinners have dominated so far at the venue as the track gets better for batting as the match progresses.
The toss-winning skipper is hence likely to bowl.
The contest will be telecast live on Sony Sports Network in India. Fans can also catch the action online on SonyLIV.
Team analysis
India's bowling attack has been in top form
India's bowling attack has been spearheaded by spinners Shree Charani and Deepti Sharma, who have taken a combined 74 wickets this year.
Meanwhile, seamers Nandani Sharma and Kranti Gaud have also contributed significantly to the team's success.
Despite some concerns over middle-order batting and catching during the Asia Cup, India have remained largely unchallenged by other Asian teams lately.
Openers Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma, the top two run-getters of the recent T20 Asia Cup, can torment the bowlers early on.
Team dynamics
Bangladesh need to fire on all cylinders
Bangladesh will be playing their first match at the Asian Games after a rain-abandoned quarter-final against China.
While they have been strong on the bowling front, their batting has often been marred by too many dot balls and missed opportunities to score runs.
Players like Sobhana Mostary, Nigar Sultana, and Shorna Akter can score quickly, but the entire batting unit needs to perform well for them to be competitive against India.
Information
Here's the head-to-head record
The head-to-head record between Bangladesh and India has been lopsided, with India winning 22 out of 25 WT20Is. In their last encounter at the Asia Cup semi-final, India won comfortably by 40 runs. Bangladesh's last win over India came in 2023.
XIs
Here are the line-ups
India (Probable XI): Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Gunalan Kamalini, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Bharti Fulmali, Richa Ghosh (wk), Deepti Sharma, Shree Charani, Shreyanka Patil, Kranti Gaud, Nandani Sharma.
Bangladesh (Probable XI): Dilara Akter, Juairiya Ferdous, Sobhana Mostary, Nigar Sultana (c) (wk), Sharmin Akhter, Shorna Akter, Fahima Khatun, Nahida Akter, Rabeya Khan, Sultana Khatun, Marufa Akter.
Poll
