The Indian team kicked off their campaign in the ongoing Women’s Asia Cup 2026. The side took on Thailand women in their first game of the tournament, and the two sides met at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on August 30th, and it was the in the end.
The clash began with India coming in to bat first. The side opened its innings with Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma scoring 19 and 64 runs, respectively. Pratika Rawal added 22 runs to the board, with Harmanpreet Kaur scoring five runs. Bharti Fulmali added 13 runs to her name.
The Indian team posted a total of 159 runs in the first innings of the game. As for Thailand, Suleeporn Laomi was the highest wicket-taker for her side with three wickets to her name. Sunida Chaturongrattana took two wickets with Thipatcha. Putthawong and Chanida Sutthiruang took one wicket each as well.
India’s exceptional bowling helped the side register dominant win
Speaking of the second innings, Thailand opened its innings with Natthakan Chantham and Phannita Maya scoring four and six runs, respectively. Nannapat Koncharoenkai added 41 runs to her name, stabilising the innings after the fall of the early wickets.
However, none of the other batters made an impact, as they were dismissed early. Thailand was bundled out on a score of 65 runs in the second innings. As for India, Nandani Sharma and Deepti Sharma were the highest wicket-takers with three wickets each to their names.
Shree Charani took two wickets, with Kranti Gaud taking one wicket as well. India put forth a marvellous performance and managed to register a 94-run victory as India got off to the perfect start to their Women’s Asia Cup campaign.
After the game, India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur took centre stage and talked about how proud she is to have won the game. “Definitely. It was a good start with the bat. I mean, when the ball was holding, we didn’t play good shots. But overall, it was a good game for us. [On the collapse] With the new ball, it was coming nicely onto the bat, but after that there was a bit of hold. And even as I mentioned, our batters, all of us, we didn’t play good shots,” Harmanpreet Kaur said.