On Tuesday, February 17, India A became the first team from Group A to secure their semi-final spot in the ongoing Women’s Asia Cup Rising Stars 2026. The India A women’s team defeated Nepal in their last group stage match by seven wickets held at the Terdthai Cricket Ground in Bangkok, Thailand. India A chased down the target score in eight overs after ending Nepal’s innings at 78 all out. With the win, India A Women’s team take the top spot of the Group A table rankings with four points and a net run rate of 3.042.
The Nepal Women’s team struggled both with the bat and ball. After a minimal effort from the top-order batters, the middle and lower-order batters struggled. Samjhana Khadka was the only high scorer of the team with 22 runs off 16 balls. India’s bowlers made a brilliant run through Tanuja Kanwar (4/12) and Minnu Mani (3/8), while Radha Yadav added two. The last wicket was achieved from the run-out of Manisha Upadhayay.
Meanwhile, India A Women’s team had quite an easy challenge to complete with the target score of 79 in 20 overs. The batters managed to finish off the match in 7.5 overs through decent efforts from Dinesh Vrinda (39* runs off 18 balls), Anushka Sharma (10 off 10), and Tejal Hasabnis (18 off 13). They lost just three wickets including one of opener Deeya Yadav and the other including Anushka and Tejal. Only Manisha Upadhayay, Anu Kadayat, and Sita Rana Magar secured one wicket each for Nepal Women.
Pakistan A Women enter Asia Cup Rising Stars 2026 Semis
After India, Pakistan A Women’s team were the second team to qualify as semi-finalists in the Asia Cup Rising Stars 2026. The Pakistanis defeated the United Arab Emirates Women’s team by a convincing nine-wicket win of nine wickets. The victory has now placed them in second place behind India A Women with four points and a net run rate of 0.457.
Like India, Pakistan A Women’s team batting and bowling line-up saw teamwork, while the UAE team lacked in terms of both. For UAE Women, the only high runs were scored by Theertha Satish (32 off 27), while for Pakistan, it was Shawaal Zulfiqar who went undefeated at 38 runs off 31 balls.
Both India and Pakistan A team’s will play their respective Women’s Asia Cup Rising Stars 2026 semi-finals match on Friday, February 20, to be held in Bangkok.
