The Indian women’s cricket team cruised into the semi-finals at the Asian Games 2026 after comfortably brushing aside hosts Japan by eight wickets at the Korogi Athletic Park in Aichi in Nisshin on Friday.
At Aichi-Nagoya 2026, the women’s cricket tournament is a straight knockout competition starting from the quarter-finals. World No. 3 India are the defending champions, having won gold at Hangzhou 2023.
Electing to bowl first, India bowled out Japan for a paltry 57 with Shree Charani taking a fourfer. Shafali Verma (40 not out off 15) made short work of the chase, reaching the mark in just five overs.
Japan, 39th in the world women’s T20I rankings, made a watchful start with openers Haruna Iwasaki and Ayaka Kato-Stafford opting for the slow approach without taking too many risks.
The duo put on 24 together before Shree Charani dealt the hosts a double blow in the seventh over to open the floodgates. The Indian spinner first sent back Iwasaki for 10 before removing opposition captain Mai Yanagida for a golden duck.
Wickets tumbled in a heap thereafter.
Charani, extracting ample turn, wound up with a career-best bowling figure of 4/10, while India’s fielders contributed a couple of smart run-outs.
Shafali Verma, meanwhile, chipped in with two of her own before Shreyanka Patil closed out the innings, bowling Nonoha Yasumoto to bundle Japan out for just 57 in 19.5 overs.
Kato-Stafford was the top Japanese run-getter in the match, contributing 25 off 47 before falling to Shafali in the 15th over.
Opening the batting for India, Shafali Verma looked to be in a hurry to wrap the match up and slammed Ahilya Chandel for four boundaries off the very first over to take India to 17/0.
The Japan women’s cricket team, however, responded well with Nonoha Yasumoto sending Gunalan Kamalini back to the dugout without disturbing the scorers in the very next over.
Kato-Stafford also got herself on the wickets column by dismissing Bharti Fulmali to give the home crowd something more to celebrate about.
However, world No. 3 India ensured there were no more missteps as Shafali Verma and Richa Ghosh got the defending champions past the finish line without any more losses.
Shafali finished off with a six and was not out on 40 off 15 balls. Richa was unbeaten on 12.
India’s next Asian Games 2026 match will be the semi-finals against Bangladesh on Sunday. Pakistan vs Sri Lanka is the other semis fixture.
IND-W vs JPN-W, Asian Games 2026 quarter-final brief scores: Japan Women 57/10 in 20 overs (Ayaka Kato-Stafford 25; Shree Charani 4/10) lost to India Women 59/2 in 5 overs (Shafali Verma 40 not out; Nonoha Yasumoto 1/8) by eight wickets.