IND-W vs BAN-W

9:58 PM local time (11:28 PM IST): India are in the summit clash now. But they will await the other finalists. It will be either Sri Lanka, or Pakistan. Fielding is most definitely an area to improve upon for Harmanpreet Kaur and her women. However, they are a strong unit and they understand how to get things right in big games. Nothing should be different here, at least in terms of preparation. We will be back with the Asia Cup Final, 2026, on Sunday, here in Dubai. from 6:30 PM local time (8:00 PM IST). For now, this is the pair of Sourabh and Bidipto taking your leave. Keep following Sportskeeda! 

Harmanpreet Kaur (India captain): "Happy with the way we are playing! There was a lot of value for bowling good balls, if you gave enough revs on the ball, you got something out of the pitch. The spinners from both sides were excellent! The runs came in different parts, and we all contributed. Richa's (Richa Ghosh) batting was important, with the ball of course, Deepti (Sharma) was excellent. On the whole, it was a good performance." 

Shafali Verma (Player of the Match, 64 runs off 40 deliveries): "There is a lot of humidity out there! But, thankfully, I got going, with some help from luck! Till 6 overs, it is slightly easier to score runs. After that, it does get tough. So, I try to hit as many sixes and fours as possible in those first six overs." 

Nigar Sultana (Bangladesh Women captain): We did not bowl well today. What we did in the last three games, bowled really well and fielded well but we lost many chances today. I don't think it was the pressure but it was just a bad day. We really wanted to restrict them to a total we could chase. We did not play well with the bat in the powerplay. (any thoughts on batting first) We played three games here and knew how the wicket will behave. We were expecting a good wicket. We created our chances but could not capitalize. (any messages?) We have achieved a lot of things from here, we have kept ourselves limited here and in the future we want to go all-out

9:39 PM local time (11:09 PM IST): India win by 40 runs and make the Women's Asia Cup, 2026, Final! 

Shafali Verma 64 (40) | Deepti Sharma - 3/26 (4)
Shorna Akter - 22* (18) | Sultana Khatun - 2/30 (3)

It was always going to be a tall ask for Bangladesh to chase down 149, but the Indian bowling, especially spin bowling, proved too hot to handle in the end! India keep their record of reaching the Asia Cup Final, intact. 

Whenever pace was provided, run-scoring got easier. Juairiya Ferdous, Dilara Akter, Nigar Sultana, Sobhana Mostary - all these four batters tried their best to get a move-on. They did manage a few boundaries, but, they didn't come as regularly as Bangladesh would have liked. 

Spin was supposed to be the trump card for India, and 16 overs from Shree Charani, Deepti Sharma, Prema Rawat and Shafali Verma, sealed the deal for the Women in Blue! 

They bowled with quality, they bowled with a lot of composure, and they outclassed Bangladesh. There was turn, there was dip, there was drift, there was bounce. Also, when needed, there were the straighter ones. 

Charani got to 50 T20I wickets and Deepti was the most wicket-taker, as usual! Prema bowled a lot of high-quality leg-breaks. 

The issue for India remained, their fielding! Pratika Rawal dropped catches, Smriti Mandhana dropped a catch, there were multiple misfields and there was an awful-looking collision between wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh and Nandani Sharma, trying to take a catch, which thankfully, didn't result in anyone's injury! 

Nandani managed to pick up a couple of wickets in the end, to build her confidence. But, pace on was not the way to go today. The seamers, when they bowl on these surfaces, have to take more pace off the ball, than what they have. 

Shorna Akter, who is capable of big shots, wasn't at her best and took a long time before bringing up her first six. That too, didn't help Bangladesh's cause. 

So India march on to the final, but there are improvements to be made in the fielding department for sure. 

19.6 Nandani Sharma to Rabeya Khan, GONE! India make it to yet another Asia Cup final, 10 out of 10 for the most successful side in the competition. And what a way to finish it off, Rabeya has been hit-wicket. Once again the pace off delivery from Nandani, off the back of the hand, Rabeya moved across to sweep it away fine but got beaten by the lack of pace. Swung too early, the ball hit the pads and lobbed up past the keeper but her bat clattered into the stumps on the followthrough as India win by a convincing 40-run margin

19.5 Nandani Sharma to Fahima Khatun, OUT! Nandani gets into the wickets as well and pulls out a "shush" celebration with her left hand up in the air. Slower one outside off, Fahima gets a leading edge on it and it is a simple catch for Prema at backward point

19.4 Nandani Sharma to Fahima Khatun, FOUR! Uses the pace and gets a boundary. All in vain though. Pace on this time from Nandani, at the stumps on a length, Fahima moves low outside off and scoops it to the fine leg fence

19.3 Nandani Sharma to Shorna Akter, backs away and swings the slower ball off the stumps, no power in that as it falls halfway through to long-off. Just a single

19.2 Nandani Sharma to Shorna Akter, slow, sliding down leg on a length, Shorna hangs back looking to clip it away but misses and gets hit on the pads