India Women land in Japan as Amol Muzumdar's Asia Cup winners begin their gold defence

India's women's cricketers landed in Japan on Wednesday to begin the defence of their Asian Games gold medal, three days after a record-extending eighth Women's Asia Cup title

Head coach Amol Muzumdar arrived on an early-morning flight with members of his support staff and a handful of players, among them the seamer Kranti Gaud and the left-arm spinner Sree Charani. The rest of the squad was due later in the day.

Harmanpreet Kaur's side go straight into the last eight, meeting hosts Japan in the fourth quarter-final of the Asian Games Women's Cricket Competition at Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin on Thursday.

The women's tournament is a straight knockout with no group stage, which leaves no margin at all: the gold India won in Hangzhou in 2023 can be surrendered in a single morning's cricket.

Straight into the knockouts

Eight teams contest the competition between 17 and 22 September, beginning with four quarter-finals. The semi-finals are on 20 September and the bronze and gold medal matches on 22 September, all of them at the same ground.

India's ranking earned them a place in the last eight rather than a qualifying route. The winners of Thursday's match go through to a semi-final against either Bangladesh or China.

The other half of the draw sends Sri Lanka against Malaysia and Pakistan against Thailand, so a repeat of the Hangzhou final would have to wait until the medal match.

Fresh from Dubai

India come to Aichi off a comprehensive win in the Women's Asia Cup final at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday, where they beat Sri Lanka by 72 runs for a record-extending eighth title.

Shafali Verma made 68 from 39 balls and Smriti Mandhana 59 from 39, the pair putting on 129 for the first wicket before India closed on 183 for 5.

Charani then returned 4-20 as Sri Lanka were bowled out for 111. She finished the tournament with 12 wickets; Deepti Sharma led the list with 14.

Muzumdar on the multi-sport stage

The coach framed the week as much around the occasion as the opposition. "The environment of a multi-sport event is something the team is looking forward to. We want the players to enjoy that experience as well," Muzumdar said.

It is a different assignment from a bilateral tour. Cricket sits inside a Games programme of dozens of sports, with a shared village, an opening ceremony and a medal table rather than a series scoreline.

India are defending both cricket titles in Japan, having taken the men's and women's gold medals on the sport's Asian Games debut three years ago.

Harmanpreet's second Games in charge

Harmanpreet leads the side at a second successive Asian Games, with Mandhana again her deputy.

Pratika Rawal is in the 15 in place of Jemimah Rodrigues, who was ruled out of both the Asia Cup and the Games after a high-grade tear to her right hamstring picked up in The Hundred.

The squad also carries Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh, Renuka Singh Thakur, Radha Yadav, Shreyanka Patil, Arundhati Reddy, Bharti Fulmali, Gunalan Kamalini and Nandani Sharma.

A new ground in Nisshin

Korogi Sports Park, in Nisshin in Aichi Prefecture, is a newly developed venue laid out for the Games rather than an established international ground, and it stages every match of both cricket competitions.

The women's event has history beyond India's win. Pakistan took the gold in 2010 and 2014, and Japan claimed a bronze at the 2010 Games in Guangzhou.

India broke that run in Hangzhou by beating Sri Lanka in the final, their first Asian Games cricket title and the one they now have five days to keep.

India meet Japan in the fourth quarter-final at Korogi Sports Park on Thursday, with the semi-finals on 20 September and both medal matches on 22 September.

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