BCCI announces India women's squad for Asian Games, Harmanpreet Kaur to captain India

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) named India's women's squad for the upcoming Asian Games 2026. Harmanpreet Kaur will be leading the full-strength side, which recently suffered a horror group-stage exit in the T20 World Cup 2026. Smriti Mandhana will remain the vice-captain of the side, which features only one change to the T20 World Cup squad.

Yastika Bhatia has been dropped from the team as G Kamalini comes in for her. Shreyanka Patil has been kept in the squad, but her participation would be subject to fitness. Patil was ruled out midway through the World Cup due to an ankle ligament injury, as Prema Rawat replaced her. Prema misses out as Shreyanka is in. The Royal Challengers Bengaluru spinner had picked up the injury during India's clash against the Netherlands. She suffered the blow on the last ball of the powerplay when she tried stopping a ball. Shreyanka was stretchered off the ground.

Yastika played in all but one game during the Women's T20 World Cup. She batted thrice but could not go big in either of those outings, as the wicketkeeper batter was



axed for Mumbai Indians' wicketkeeper Kamalini.

Cricket will once again be part of the Asian Games programme at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Games in Japan, with both the men's and women's competitions set to be played in the T20 International format from September 24 to October 3. The event is expected to feature Asia's leading cricketing nations, including India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, alongside emerging teams from across the continent. After the sport's successful return at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, where India won gold medals in both the men's and women's events, the 2026 edition promises another fiercely contested tournament and will also serve as an important platform for teams preparing for cricket's return to the Olympic Games at Los Angeles 2028.

India's squad for the 2026 Asian Games: Harmanpreet Kaur (Captain), Smriti Mandhana (Vice-Captain), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (WK), G. Kamalini (WK), Bharti Fulmali, Sree Charani, Renuka Thakur, Kranti Gaud, Arundhati Reddy, Shreyanka Patil*, Radha Yadav, Nandni Sharma.