Harmanpreet Kaur to Continue as Captain; BCCI Announces Women's Squad For Asian Games

2026 Asian Games: We are not too far away from the continental champions and the Board of Control of Cricket in India has already announced the squad for the event. In what may be a tad-bit surprising after India's early exit from the ongoing T20 Women's World Cup, Harmanpreet Kaur still has the confidence of the selectors. She will continue to lead the side. 

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Harman Retains Captaincy

The 2026 Asian Games are scheduled to be held in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, in September 2026. The Harman-led side walk into the tournament as the defending champions. India won the gold medal at the previous Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.

The Indian captain amassed 141 runs in five matches at the Women's T20 World Cup, which is decent. Her best came in the final Group A game against Australia — a 56-run knock. But India still lost and exited the tournament.

The women in blue got their T20 WC campaign off to a dream start, getting the better of Pakistan and the Netherlands. However, the team was given a reality check after India went down against South Africa. Heading into the game against Australia, the equation was simple: win to qualify, or else be knocked out. And as fate would have it, the 50-over champions crashed out.

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.

For the unversed, India will also be playing a Test match against England at Lord's Cricket Ground before the Asian Games. The match is scheduled to begin on July 10.