Shafali Verma smashed her maiden white-ball century as India women stormed into the Asian Games gold-medal match with a 114-run victory over Bangladesh in the semifinal on Sunday.
The opener remained unbeaten on 100 from 55 balls, hitting three fours and nine sixes, as India posted 195/4 after opting to bat first. Shafali also became the first female cricketer to score a century at the Asian Games. Her nine sixes took her tally to 35 in T20Is during 2026, moving her past Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu for the most sixes by a woman batter in a calendar year.
Shafali and Smriti Mandhana added 72 for the opening wicket, with Mandhana scoring 37 off 19 balls. Harmanpreet Kaur then contributed an unbeaten 40 to help India finish strongly.
India’s bowlers completed the dominant performance by dismissing Bangladesh for 81 in 15.4 overs. Deepti Sharma and Nandni Sharma claimed three wickets each, while Sree Charani took two.
India will face Sri Lanka in Tuesday’s gold-medal final, while Bangladesh meet Pakistan for bronze.