Shafali Verma claimed two wickets and scored an unbeaten 40 to power Team India past Japan into the Asian Games 2026 women’s cricket semifinal on Friday.
Published: September 18, 2026, 1:30 PM IST
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Shafali Verma en route to scoring 40 against Japan in Asian Games 2026 quarterfinal match(Source: X)
Asian Games 2026: Team India opener Shafali Verma continued her sizzling form with the bat and put on an all-round show as Women’s Asia Cup 2026 winners powered past hosts Japan by eight wickets in the Asian Games 2026 quarterfinal match at the Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin on FridayLast edition’s gold medal-winning Indian side will now face Bangladesh in the semifinal clash at the same venue on Sunday afternoon.
Shafali, who was the leading run-scorer at the Women’s Asia Cup 2026 in Dubai earlier this month, first claimed 2 for 13 with the ball in 4 overs and along with world No1 T20I bowler Shree Charani’s brilliant four-wicket haul, managed to bundle out minnows Japan for 57 in 19.5 overs.
In reply, Harmanpreet Kaur’s side managed to hunt down the modest target in just 5 overs for the loss of two wicketsShafali hammered an unbeaten 40 in 15 balls with two sixes and six fours while wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh remained unbeaten on 12 off 6 balls.
Gunalan Kamalini was dismissed for a duck while Bharti Fulmali only managed to score 6 in the chase.
WATCH Shafali Verma claim two wickets with the ball HERE…
Explosive with the bat, lethal with the ball!
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Hosts Japan also had some moments to cheer as they managed to dismiss opener Kamalini and one down batter FulmaliThe credit for restricting Japan to just-above 50 went largely to Indian spinners led by Charani.
After Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss and decided to bowl first, the Indians never gave Japan batters any chance to free their arms, which was reflected in just three boundaries in the host team’s innings – two of them coming in the first six overs.
The Japanese batters, who barely get to play top teams and for that matter even train regularly, could not find a way to force the pace throughout the inningsIn fact, they were even struggling to smash the ball past or over the ropes.
The ‘Power Play’ overs yielded only 24 runs and the segment saw Japan batters hitting just two fours, and one of them was an edge through the slipsBut left-arm spinner Charani, who recorded her best figures in T20s, soon bagged the wickets of opener Haruna Iwasaki (10) and skipper Mai Yanagida off successive balls in the 7th over, continuing her recent golden form in this format.
In the last 10 overs, off-spinner Shafali Verma (2/13) joined the list of wicket-takers as Japan slid furtherShe snapped up Ayaka Kato-Stafford, the highest scorer for Japan with 25 off 47 balls, and Shimako Kato in the 15th and 17th over as their attempt to go for big, aerial shots ended in the hands of Indian fielders.
The pitch at Nisshin also offered appreciable turn and bounce, making the job of Japanese batters that much more difficult against a set of highly-skilled bowlersThere were a couple of run-outs too, making matters all the more complicated for the home batters, who often struggled for proper coordination while running between the wickets.
Bangladesh had reached the semifinals on Thursday after their quarterfinal match against China was washed out due to rainIn the other semifinal, Asia Cup 2026 finalist Sri Lanka will face Fatima Sana’s Pakistan.
