Shafali Verma's Maiden T20I Century Sends India Into the Asian Games Final, Sri Lanka Beat Pakistan to Set Up the Gold Medal Match

Both Asian Games 2026 women's cricket semifinals were played on September 20 at the Kōrogi Sports Park in Nisshin, and both were settled well before the finish. India beat Bangladesh by 114 runs behind Shafali Verma's maiden T20I century, and Sri Lanka beat Pakistan by eight wickets on the back of Chamari Athapaththu's unbeaten 83. India and Sri Lanka now meet in the gold medal match on September 22, with Bangladesh and Pakistan playing for bronze.

Shafali Verma's century, and a record for Smriti Mandhana

India batted first and posted 195 for 4 in their 20 overs, built around Shafali Verma's unbeaten 100 off 49 balls, an innings that included nine sixes and three fours and made her the first woman to score a century at the Asian Games. Harmanpreet Kaur added 40, and Smriti Mandhana made a brisk 37 off 19 balls — five fours and two sixes — in a 72-run opening stand with Shafali before falling to Nahida Akter. During that innings, Mandhana also moved past New Zealand's Suzie Bates to become the leading run-scorer in women's T20I history, and brought up 100 sixes in the format in the same passage of play. Bangladesh's Sanjida Akter Meghla was the pick of the bowlers with 1 for 25 in an otherwise one-sided innings.

Bangladesh's chase folds inside 16 overs

Chasing 196, Bangladesh never found any rhythm and were bowled out for just 81 in 15.4 overs. Deepti Sharma and Nandani Sharma took three wickets apiece, sharing the bulk of the wicket-taking as Bangladesh's top order collapsed around opener Dilara Akter's top score of 27. The 114-run margin sends India into the final having beaten Bangladesh twice inside two weeks, following their 40-run win in this month's Women's Asia Cup semifinal in Dubai.

Athapaththu's 83 carries Sri Lanka past Pakistan

In the earlier semifinal, Pakistan posted 177 for 4 in their 20 overs behind fifties from Ayesha Zafar (71) and Shawaal Zulfiqar (54). Sri Lanka's chase was built almost entirely around Athapaththu, who finished unbeaten on 83 off 50 balls — seven fours and six sixes — sharing a 95-run second-wicket stand with Hasini Perera (42) that took the game away from Pakistan. Sri Lanka reached 178 for 2 in 17.5 overs, winning by eight wickets with 13 balls to spare — a considerably more comfortable margin than their four-wicket win over the same opponent in this month's Women's Asia Cup semifinal.

Analysis: India's depth on show, a rematch of the Asia Cup final looms

Shafali's century is the headline, but the more significant number for India's team management is the six-for-nothing Bangladesh conceded between Deepti Sharma and Nandani Sharma — a reminder that India's bowling attack has more than one route to bowling teams out cheaply. Sri Lanka's win sets up a repeat of this month's Women's Asia Cup final, which India won by 72 runs; Athapaththu's form with the bat gives Sri Lanka a stronger platform to work from this time, but India arrive as the form side of the tournament and as defending Asian Games champions from Hangzhou 2022.

Following the final

Live scores from the gold medal match and bronze medal match on September 22 are tracked on SportGod's live matches page, with AI-powered match previews on SportGod's predictions page and fantasy contests open in SportGod's free games. More tournament coverage is on SportGod's blog.

Scorecards, individual figures and the record details are verified against same-day match reporting, current as of September 20, 2026.