India Women Begin Their Asian Games Title Defence Against Hosts Japan on September 17

Defending champions India open their Asian Games 2026 women's title defence on September 17, against hosts Japan in the quarter-finals at the Kōrogi Sports Park in Nisshin.

Why India start in the quarter-finals

The eight-team women's competition, played in T20 format, uses a group stage feeding into the knockouts, with the top two sides from Groups A and B joining four seeded teams directly in the quarter-finals. As the reigning champions from the Hangzhou 2023 Games — where India won both the men's and women's gold medals — India are one of those seeded sides, meaning their tournament opens straight in the last eight rather than through pool matches. The tournament runs through to the medal matches on September 22.

Squad led by Harmanpreet, with a late change at the top

Harmanpreet Kaur captains India for a second consecutive Asian Games, with Smriti Mandhana as vice-captain. The squad also includes Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh, Renuka Thakur, Radha Yadav and Kranti Gaud — several of them coming straight off India's Women's Asia Cup title win earlier this month. One change from the squad originally named in June: Jemimah Rodrigues, ruled out with a hamstring injury suffered during The Hundred in August, has been replaced by Pratika Rawal.

Analysis: momentum favours India, but a straight knockout draw leaves no room for a slow start

India arrive at the Asian Games on the back of an Asia Cup title and a squad that has barely changed shape since Hangzhou, which makes them the clear favourites to retain gold. The flip side of a seeded, straight-to-quarter-final draw is that there is no group-stage match to shake off any early rust — a single off day against Japan on September 17 would end the title defence immediately, unlike a league format that allows for a bad match to be absorbed. Given the depth and recent form on show at the Asia Cup, India will start as strong favourites, but the format itself carries more risk than the squad's results this year would suggest.

Following the tournament

More coverage of India's build-up and the wider Asian Games cricket schedule is available on SportGod's blog, with live scores from the tournament tracked on SportGod's live matches page.

The squad, schedule and tournament format are verified against same-day reporting and official Asian Games announcements, current as of September 16, 2026.