The 2026 Women’s T20 Asia Cup will take place in Dubai from 28 August to 13 September 2026. The tournament will feature eight teams, with Sri Lanka as the defending champions.
Here’s India’s Squad for the 2026 Asia Cup:
1. Harmanpreet Kaur (C)
2. Smriti Mandhana (VC)
3. Shafali Verma
4. Jemimah Rodrigues
5. Bharti Fulmali
6. Deepti Sharma
7. Richa Ghosh (WK)
8. G. Kamalini (WK)
9. Arundhati Reddy
10. Prema Rawat
11. Radha Yadav
12. Sree Charani
13. Renuka Singh Thakur
14. Nandni Sharma
15. Kranti Gaud
Reserve Players:
Pratika Rawal
Uma Chetry (WK)
Vaishnavi Sharma
Sayali Satghare
Minnu Mani
India’s campaign will begin with a match against Thailand on Sunday, 30th August.
The 15-member squad, along with the reserves, presents a balanced squad of proven international players and some exciting domestic talent.
The leadership set-up remains unchanged despite speculation after India’s campaign at the 2026 T20 Women’s World Cup. Harmanpreet Kaur will captain the team, with Smriti Mandhana as her deputy.
Strengths:
Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma provide stability at the top, while Jemimah Rodrigues and Harmanpreet Kaur offer middle-order stability. Rodrigues can anchor or accelerate the innings depending on the situation.
Further down the order, India has their proven wicketkeeper-batter, Richa Ghosh, whose ability to clear the boundary in the death overs remains crucial. Along with Richa, Bharti Fulmali can also provide an additional power-hitting option to accelerate in the middle or death overs. G. Kamalini can provide flexibility as a backup keeper-batter.
Speaking of the spin and all-rounder department, Deepti Sharma provides reliable off-spin with crucial middle-to-lower-order batting depth.
Radha Yadav, with her left-arm orthodox spin, is a vital match-up for right-handed batters, and also brings good fielding and athleticism to the squad. Prema Rawat adds control as a backup spin option in Asian conditions.
For the pace attack, Renuka Singh Thakur will lead the attack with her swing in the powerplay, while Arundhati Reddy can offer mid-over discipline and late-over variations.
Kranti Gaud, who’s coming off a successful performance in red-ball cricket with plenty of confidence, offers seam support, while Nandni Sharma adds extra pace and depth to the set-up.
Reserves:
Pratika Rawal provides top-order support, while Uma Chetry offers wicketkeeping cover along with her batting if required.
Vaishnavi Sharma offers additional spin depth. Sayali Satghare and Minnu Mani can bring medium pace and off-spin, respectively, if needed.
Overall, the squad has strong batting options, and deep power-hitting down to No. 7/8. The challenge will be to create a balance between three specialist seamers vs. maximising spin and power-hitting options.
Weakness:
Left-Handed Top-order Void: Leaving out Yastika Bhatia leaves the top order heavily reliant on Smriti Mandhana for left-handed variety.
Absence of Shreyanka Patil: Due to an ankle injury, it leaves India without a key wicket-taking option during the middle overs and powerplay. The squad relies heavily on finger spin
No Wrist-Spin: The squad relies more on finger spin. On the UAE flat pitches, wrist spin provides crucial drift and turn.
Lack of Death-Bowling Options: Other than Renuka Singh Thakur, who’s more of a new-ball specialist and Arundhati Reddy, the pace attack doesn’t have much depth.
Against an aggressive opposition, the team may lack an experienced, reliable death specialist if one of them has an off-day.
Over Reliance on Top Order: Should Mandhana, Verma, Rodrigues, or Kaur misfire early, there’s no proven guarantee that the middle order can anchor and accelerate simultaneously.
