India begin the defence of their continental ambitions at the Women’s Asia Cup 2026 in Dubai without Jemimah Rodrigues, who was ruled out of the tournament after sustaining a high-grade hamstring tear during the ongoing Hundred tournament in England, the BCCI confirmed as Harmanpreet Kaur’s 15-member squad assembled ahead of an August 30 opener against Thailand.
The tournament and India’s path
The Women’s Asia Cup 2026 runs from August 28 to September 13 at Dubai International Stadium, with eight teams competing for the T20 continental title. India open their campaign against Thailand on August 30, before facing Hong Kong China on September 3 and the much-anticipated clash with Pakistan on September 5. Harmanpreet Kaur leads a squad featuring Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma at the top of the order, alongside Bharti Fulmali and Pratika Rawal, as India look to go one better than their runner-up finish at the previous edition in 2024, when they lost the final to Sri Lanka by eight wickets in Dambulla.
The Rodrigues blow
Rodrigues’s hamstring injury, suffered while representing her Hundred franchise in England, forced selectors to reshape the middle order shortly before the squad’s departure for the UAE. She had been considered a key finisher and a versatile option capable of batting across the middle order, and her absence puts extra weight on Harmanpreet Kaur and the recalled Shafali Verma to provide stability in the crucial middle overs of the innings.
Competing views on India’s title chances
Team management and BCCI selectors have expressed confidence that the squad’s batting depth, bolstered by domestic performers such as Bharti Fulmali, can absorb the loss of a single player, pointing to India’s strong recent overall record in white-ball cricket. Some former players and commentators in the Indian press, however, have flagged the middle order as a genuine vulnerability without Rodrigues, arguing that India’s finishing has been inconsistent in recent bilateral series and that Pakistan and Sri Lanka, the two sides most likely to challenge India, both possess settled batting units capable of exploiting any hesitancy in the chase.
Numbers to watch
- India finished runners-up at the 2024 Women’s Asia Cup, losing the final to Sri Lanka by eight wickets.
- The India-Pakistan group match is scheduled for September 5 in Dubai.
- Rodrigues sustained a high-grade hamstring tear during The Hundred, ruling her out of the entire tournament.
Why this tournament matters
Beyond the immediate continental title, the Women’s Asia Cup serves as a form guide ahead of a busy period of global women’s cricket, with results here likely to shape team combinations and confidence heading into subsequent series. For India, reclaiming the trophy lost in 2024 would go some way to answering questions about their ability to close out major tournaments, a theme that has recurred across both the men’s and women’s programs in recent seasons.
What’s next
India’s group-stage form against Thailand and Hong Kong China will offer an early read on how the side copes without Rodrigues before the marquee clash with Pakistan on September 5. Selectors will also monitor Rodrigues’s recovery timeline closely, given the congested calendar of white-ball cricket that follows the Asia Cup, including the Asian Games, for which she has also been ruled out. Head coach Amol Muzumdar said the squad had spent additional training time on middle-order combinations in the lead-up to the tournament specifically to prepare for scenarios in which key players are unavailable, adding that depth built through domestic tournaments such as the Women’s Premier League gave selectors confidence in the replacements called into the squad.