Shafali Verma hit nine sixes in a 49-ball hundred, and India’s Asian Games final is a rematch of the last one
Shafali Verma’s unbeaten 100 from 49 balls is the first century by a woman in Asian Games cricket, and it carried India past Bangladesh by 114 runs into a gold medal match against Sri Lanka.
Sep 20, 2026
Shafali Verma faced 49 balls at Nisshin on Sunday and cleared the ropes with nine of them. The unbeaten 100 that came out of it was her first century in T20 internationals, and the first hundred by any woman in Asian Games cricket. India’s 195 for 4 was far too much for Bangladesh, who were bowled out for 81 inside 16 overs, and the gold medal match on Tuesday will be a rerun of the last one.
Nine sixes, and two records in one innings
India won the toss and batted at Korogi Sports Park in Aichi prefecture, the venue hosting the whole cricket competition at these Games. Shafali went after the bowling early and never eased off. Harmanpreet Kaur made 40 from 33 balls and Smriti Mandhana 37 from 19, both perfectly good innings, both entirely overshadowed. Shafali finished on 100 not out from 49 deliveries with three fours and nine sixes, which is to say the boundary rope barely came into it.
Those nine sixes equalled the most hit in a women’s T20 international innings, a mark held until Sunday by Hayley Matthews and Deandra Dottin. They also pushed Shafali to 35 sixes in this calendar year, past the 32 Chamari Athapaththu hit in 2024, which is now the most by any woman in a T20I year. Athapaththu, as it happens, is the captain India face on Tuesday.
The hundred itself had been a long time coming. Shafali made her India debut against South Africa on 24 September 2019 at the age of 15, the youngest player ever to appear in a T20I for the country. In June 2024 she made 205 from 197 balls against the same opponent in Chennai, the fastest double century in the history of women’s Test cricket. The white-ball international hundred, the one that should have been easiest of the lot, had never turned up. It arrived four days short of the seventh anniversary of her first cap, in a semi-final, with a medal on the line.
Bangladesh lasted 15.4 overs
A target of 196 was never a realistic proposition and Bangladesh did not come close to treating it as one. Nandani Sharma removed opener Juairiya Ferdous with the first ball of the second over, then struck twice more in the 11th, taking out Nahida Akter for 4 and Rabeya Khan for a golden duck. She finished with 3 for 25 from her four overs.
Deepti Sharma’s figures were the more severe set: 3 for 7 from 2.4 overs. She became the leading wicket-taker in women’s T20 internationals during the Asia Cup last month, and on a day when the headlines belonged to a batter she bowled Bangladesh out of the tournament almost as an afterthought. Shree Charani took 2 for 7 from three. The innings closed on 81, India won by 114 runs, and a medal of some colour is now guaranteed.
The final is the same final
Sri Lanka had booked their place hours earlier, beating Pakistan by eight wickets in the morning semi-final. Pakistan posted 177 for 4, built on Ayesha Zafar’s 71 from 40 balls and Shawaal Zulfiqar’s 54, and in most weeks that would be enough. Athapaththu answered with 83 not out from 50 deliveries and Sri Lanka were home in 17.5 overs. India and Sri Lanka will now meet for an Asian Games gold medal for the second time.
The first meeting, in Hangzhou in 2023, was a far smaller game. India managed only 116 for 7, with Mandhana’s 46 and Jemimah Rodrigues’s 42 the only scores of any size. Titas Sadhu then reduced Sri Lanka to 14 for 3 inside five overs and the chase never recovered. India won by 19 runs and took the country’s first women’s cricket gold at the Games.
Tuesday’s final is back at Nisshin, with Bangladesh and Pakistan playing for bronze the same day. India arrive as holders, and with an opening batter who has just found the gear everybody had assumed she already had.