Asian Games: India face Bangladesh in semifinal as gold medal defence continues

India women face Bangladesh in the second Asian Games 2026 semifinal on Sunday, seeking to defend their gold medal. India enter the contest after beating Japan, while Bangladesh advanced after their quarterfinal against China was washed out

Nisshin: India women will face Bangladesh in the second semifinal of the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games 2026 at Korogi Sports Park on Sunday as they look to defend the gold medal they won at the 2023 Hangzhou Games.

Harmanpreet Kaur’s Women in Blue brushed aside hosts Japan in a one-sided quarterfinal to march into the semifinals of the tournament for the second straight time in as many appearances.

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The Women in Blue will look to defend the gold medal they won after beating Sri Lanka in the 2023 Asiad final, with the semifinals following a similar pattern to the previous edition.

Just like in the 2023 Asian Games, India will meet Bangladesh in one of the two semifinals, while Sri Lanka will lock horns with Pakistan in the other last-four encounter.

The Women in Blue are fresh from winning their eighth Asia Cup title a few days ago, while Bangladesh lost to India in the semifinal of that tournament in Dubai.

Indian players are in great form heading into the semifinal, with the likes of Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana leading the show with the bat. The bowling unit has matched the batters’ performance. Sree Charani is in the form of her life after picking up two consecutive four-wicket hauls, the second of which came in the quarterfinal against Japan. She is currently the World No. 1 T20I bowler.

Deepti Sharma continues to show her worth in both departments, while fast bowler Nandani Sharma has also been impressive. India have also been bolstered by the return of leg-spinner Shreyanka Patil, who picked up one wicket in the quarterfinal after returning from an injury layoff.

The Women in Blue will want more from their middle order, which has been a bit untested in recent times after the top order did the heavy lifting in the Asia Cup.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh are coming into the semifinal without any game time in Nisshin. Their quarterfinal against China was washed out, and they progressed because they were the higher-ranked team.

Nigar Sultana, who is reportedly set to step down from the T20I captaincy, will be looking for a major upset in the semifinal, but Bangladesh will know they are coming up against a very strong Indian side.

The Bangladeshi side have defeated the Women in Blue only three times in 25 meetings and have often been found wanting in the batting department. They have shown decent outings with the ball, but their batters have not been able to post competitive totals, not only against India but also against several other big teams.