India Women’s to begin Asian Games Cricket campaign against Japan

Nagoya: Fresh from their record-extending Asia Cup triumph, defending champions India will begin their Asian Games title defence as overwhelming favourites against hosts Japan in the women's quarterfinals here on Friday.

India, guided by coach Amol Muzumdar, head into the continental showpiece with confidence after lifting their eighth T20 Asia Cup in Dubai last week, but the knock-out format leaves them with little margin for error.

Eight teams are competing in the women's event and the competition starts directly with the quarterfinals. Shafali Verma will be one of India's key weapons after an outstanding Asia Cup, where she emerged as the team's leading batter and finished as the tournament's highest run-scorer. Smriti Mandhana, however, will look to bounce back from an inconsistent campaign as India embark on another title bid.

Captain Harmanpreet Kaur will also be looking for a better outing after an indifferent Asia Cup. Much of India's bowling will revolve around experienced all-rounder Deepti Sharma and left-arm spinner Sree Charani, India's standout performers in the Asia Cup.

Japan, playing on home soil, will be looking to make the most of the occasion against a superior opponent. The hosts face a formidable bowling attack and will need to negotiate India's spin options effectively while restricting their aggressive top-order batters.

Lineup:

India:
Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Shreyanka Patil, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Richa Gosh (wk), Bharti Fulmali, Gunalan Kamalini, Deepti Sharma, Sree Charani, Kranti Gaud, Nandini Sharma

Japan:
Hinase Goto, Mai Yanagida (c), Akari Nishimura (wk), Ayuma Fujikawa, Erika Toguchi-Quinn, Ahilya Chandel, Nonoha Yasumoto, Ayaka Kato-Stafford, Haruna Iwasaki, Shimako Kato, Erika Oda

India have won the toss and elected to field first. Match starts 10:30 am IST.
(With inputs from PTI)