Two days after India Women’s cricket team was knocked out of the ICC Women’s T20 World cup 2026, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has named the squad for the Asian Games 2026. Harmanpreet Kaur will continue to lead the Women in Blue, who are the defending champions, with Smriti Mandhana serving as her deputy. Yastika Bhatia has been dropped from the squad after a lacklustre performance in the T20 World Cup while G Kamalini returns to the side for the Asian Games 2026.
India Women squad for Asian Games 2026
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.
Note: *Subject to fitness clearance
Shreyanka Patil, who was ruled out of the ICC Women’s T20 World cup 2026 mid-way through the tournament due to an ankle ligament injury, has been named in the 15-member squad. However, her inclusion is subject to fitness clearance. Patil’s return to the squad means Prema Rawat is out. The latter was named in the WC squad as Shreyanka’s injury replacement.
Yastika Bhatia, who has played 26 T20Is to date, delivered a sub-par performance in the T20 WC. In three matches, she only managed to register scores of 3, 15 and 23, failing to fire while batting at number three in the last two matches. Her lacklusture performance in the WC coupled with a poor average and miserable strike rate in T20Is has forced her to be dropped.
G Kamalini, who was last seen in action for India Women in December 2025 in the only T20I that she has played, has been named in the squad, potentially replacing Yastika. She was recently a part of India A’s tour to England where she scored 44 runs and took 2 catches in 3 T20s.
The Indian women’s team will head into the Asian Games 2026 as the defending champions, having won the gold medal in the women’s cricket competition at the previous edition held in Hangzhou, China. The tournament is scheduled to be held in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, in September 2026.
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