Indonesia are playing their first Asia Cup, and India cannot meet the holders before the semi-finals
Eight teams start the Women’s Asia Cup in Dubai on Friday, and two of them were not at the last one. India open against Thailand on 30 August.
Aug 27, 2026
Indonesia have never played an Asia Cup. Hong Kong have not played one since 2012. Both are in Dubai this week, and the tournament they have qualified for starts on Friday.
The field changed in Malaysia in June
India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are in as ICC Full Members. The other four places went to whoever came through the ACC Women’s Premier Cup, an 18-team qualifier Malaysia hosted from 3 to 13 June. Thailand, the UAE, Hong Kong and Indonesia each topped a group and then won a quarter-final, and that was the cut.
Nepal and Malaysia were in the eight at Dambulla in 2024. Neither made it back. The 2026 field is the same size as the last one, but a quarter of it is new. Indonesia have never been to an Asia Cup in either format, going back to the first one in 2004.
India’s group, and the three matches in it
India are in Group A with Pakistan, Hong Kong and Thailand. They open against Thailand on 30 August, play Hong Kong on 3 September, and finish the group against Pakistan on 5 September. Group B is Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the UAE and Indonesia.
Two teams go through from each group. The semi-finals are on 10 and 11 September and the final is on 13 September, and every match of the tournament is at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
That draw settles one thing before a ball is bowled. Sri Lanka are the holders and they are in the other group, so a rematch of the 2024 final cannot happen before the semi-finals.
India and Pakistan last met in June, in the T20 World Cup group stage at Edgbaston. Deepti Sharma took 5 for 10, Smriti Mandhana made 68, and India won by 64 runs.
Sri Lanka took the trophy off India in Dambulla
Before July 2024, India had won seven of the eight Asia Cups played and Bangladesh had won the other. Sri Lanka had finished second five times, on every occasion to India.
The sixth time was different. India made 165 for 6 in the 2024 final at Dambulla, Chamari Athapaththu made 61 and Harshitha Samarawickrama 69 not out, and Sri Lanka got there in 18.4 overs with eight wickets standing. First title, won at home, and won against the side that had beaten them in all five of those earlier runner-up finishes.
India go in without Rodrigues
Jemimah Rodrigues tore a hamstring on 3 August playing in the Hundred and the BCCI medical team graded it high enough to rule her out of both this tournament and the Asian Games. Pratika Rawal came into the squad in her place.
Harmanpreet Kaur captains, with Smriti Mandhana as her deputy. The rest of the 15 is Shafali Verma, Pratika Rawal, Bharti Fulmali, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh, G Kamalini, Arundhati Reddy, Prema Rawat, Radha Yadav, Sree Charani, Renuka Singh Thakur, Nandni Sharma and Kranti Gaud. Ghosh and Kamalini are both wicketkeepers.
India have finished first or second in all nine editions played. No other side is close to that. It also means a semi-final exit in Dubai would be the worst result in the tournament’s history for them, which is the kind of pressure a record like theirs creates. They have not actually won it since 2022.