India chased 56 in 8.4 overs to finish the group, and Bangladesh are next
Three wins, three opponents bowled out for under 70, and a net run rate more than double anyone else’s. India start Thursday’s Women’s Asia Cup semi-final as heavy favourites against a Bangladesh side that has not passed 129 all tournament.
Sep 9, 2026
India have played three matches at this Women’s Asia Cup and won them by 94 runs, by 137 runs and with 68 balls to spare. That last one, against Pakistan on 5 September, took eight and a half overs. They face Bangladesh in the first semi-final in Dubai on Thursday, and on the group-stage evidence there is no contest here at all. The trouble with that reading is that the last time these two met with a trophy at stake, Bangladesh won.
What India’s group stage actually looked like
India beat Thailand on 30 August, posting 159 for 9 and bowling them out for 65. They beat Hong Kong on 3 September, making 193 for 5 and dismissing them for 56. Then they bowled Pakistan out for 55 and knocked off the target in 8.4 overs. Three matches, three opponents removed for under 70, and a net run rate of 5.471, which is more than double the next best figure in the tournament.
Smriti Mandhana leads the tournament run charts with 152 at an average above 50. Shafali Verma has 104. Deepti Sharma has eight wickets at 1.75 apiece, and Shree Charani has seven, including 3 for 7 from four overs the night Pakistan were bowled out for 55.
Harmanpreet Kaur has been able to rotate her attack without ever needing a rescue innings. India have not been three down early. They have batted second once, and the target was 56. Nobody has made them uncomfortable, which is a nice problem to have and also the one thing a knockout match tends to expose.
Bangladesh have had a harder tournament
Bangladesh finished second in Group B with two wins from three. They beat Indonesia by 71 runs on 31 August, lost to Sri Lanka by four wickets with four balls left on 6 September, and then beat the UAE by 34 runs on Tuesday after slipping to 55 for 6 and recovering to 103 for 7.
That UAE match is worth more attention than the scoreline suggests. Sharmin Akhter’s 38 from 31 was the innings that stopped the collapse, and then Rabeya Khan’s leg spin took 3 for 14 to break the middle order. Bangladesh have not made a total above 129 all tournament. What they have done is defend low ones, twice.
Sobhana Mostary is their leading scorer with 77 runs across three innings. That is 75 fewer than Mandhana has, and it is a fair summary of the batting gap between the sides.
The 2018 final still counts for something
India have won seven of the nine Women’s Asia Cups played. One of the two they lost was the 2018 final, when Bangladesh beat them by three wickets. The other was 2024 in Dambulla, when Sri Lanka chased India down and won by eight wickets.
So India arrive at a semi-final having lost their last final, against a side that has already beaten them in one. That does not make Bangladesh favourites, and nothing in this group stage suggests they should be. It does mean the fixture has a history that India’s players will have heard about all week.
India are also without Jemimah Rodrigues, ruled out of the tournament with a hamstring tear. Through a group stage where India never needed a middle order, that has not mattered. In a knockout game against spin on a used Dubai pitch, it might.
When and where
Bangladesh play India in the first semi-final at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Thursday, 10 September, starting at 8pm IST. Pakistan meet Sri Lanka in the second semi-final on Friday, and the final is on Sunday, 13 September, at the same ground.
Every match of this tournament has been played in Dubai, which means both sides know exactly what the surface does under lights and neither can claim a surprise. India’s spinners have taken it apart. Bangladesh’s have kept them in games they had no business staying in. That is the match.