India Women open their Asian Games title defence against hosts Japan in Nisshin

Harmanpreet Kaur's side begin the defence of their Asian Games cricket gold against hosts Japan at Korogi Sports Park on Thursday, four days after winning the Women's Asia Cup

India Women meet Japan Women in a quarter-final of the Asian Games Women's Cricket Competition in Nisshin, in Aichi Prefecture, on Thursday. Eight teams are entered and there is no group stage, so the tournament is a straight knockout from the first ball.

India won the gold medal when cricket was last on the Asian Games programme, at Hangzhou in 2023, beating Sri Lanka in the final on the sport's debut in the competition.

They arrive in Japan as Asia Cup holders as well, having beaten Sri Lanka by 72 runs in Dubai on Sunday for a record eighth title in the tournament.

A tournament with no second chances

The women's competition runs from 17 to 22 September and is played entirely at Korogi Sports Park, with four quarter-finals, two semi-finals on 20 September and the bronze and gold medal matches on 22 September.

The winners of India's match go through to meet either Bangladesh or China, who play their own quarter-final at the same ground.

Japan qualified automatically as hosts, alongside the four full members entered — India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. China, Malaysia and Thailand came through a qualifying tournament in Malaysia in May.

Momentum from Dubai

India's batting order needed only 12.5 overs to settle the Asia Cup final. Shafali Verma made 68 from 39 balls and Smriti Mandhana 59 from 39 in an opening stand of 129, the highest for any wicket in the women's T20 edition of the tournament.

India closed on 183 for 5 and Sri Lanka were bowled out for 111, with left-arm spinner Sree Charani taking 4-20 and Chamari Athapaththu top-scoring with 36.

Charani has since become the first India bowler to pass 800 rating points in the ICC women's T20I bowling rankings.

A squad reshaped by injury

Harmanpreet leads a 15-member squad with Mandhana as her deputy, a selection built on continuity after India's semi-final exit to Australia at this year's T20 World Cup.

Jemimah Rodrigues is the notable absentee, ruled out of both the Asia Cup and the Asian Games by a high-grade hamstring tear sustained playing for Southern Brave in The Hundred on 3 August. Pratika Rawal was named as her replacement for Japan last week.

Shreyanka Patil was picked subject to fitness clearance after an ankle ligament injury at the World Cup, and wicketkeeper G Kamalini comes in for Yastika Bhatia. Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh and Renuka Singh are among the experienced names retained.

Japan's own history in the competition

The hosts are captained by Mai Yanagida and coached by Vinay Iyer, and are making a third Asian Games appearance. RevSportz's team profile records a bronze medal in 2010 and a quarter-final place in 2014.

Erika Oda is the country's leading women's T20I run-scorer with 802 runs from 51 matches, and Ahilya Chandel its leading wicket-taker with 41 from 48. The 16-year-old all-rounder Ayaka Kato-Stafford has made 223 runs and taken eight wickets in T20Is this year.

Japan have won four and lost three of their seven T20Is in 2026, and drew a home series against Malaysia 1-1 earlier this month after one match was washed out.

A ground built from scratch

Aichi Prefecture had no cricket venue of any standard before the Games were awarded, and organisers had 17 months to build one.

Japan Cricket Association chief executive Alex Miyaji said the ground would have "turf and hybrid pitches prepared by the best curators, for which Sri Lanka Cricket should be credited for providing", and described the conditions as the best seen since cricket joined the Asian Games programme.

Some of the infrastructure around the square is temporary, Miyaji said, with organisers working to give players and officials "comfortable space as possible" inside a venue whose permanent facilities sit around the ground.

The winners go through to a semi-final at the same venue on 20 September, with both medal matches to follow on 22 September.

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