Sree Charani and Deepti Sharma lead India's Asian Games defence as the world's top two T20I bowlers

India begin their Asian Games gold-medal defence in Japan on Friday with the two highest-ranked bowlers in women's T20 international cricket, a pair who took 26 wickets between them at the Asia Cup

Sree Charani sits top of the ICC women's T20I bowling rankings on 804 rating points, the first India bowler to pass 800 in the format, and Deepti Sharma is immediately behind her in second after climbing four places.

Both moves were confirmed in the update of 15 September, two days after India beat Sri Lanka in the Women's Asia Cup final and three days before the quarter-final against hosts Japan at Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin.

The tournament is a straight knockout, so the attack that carried India through the Asia Cup has one match at a time to get it right. The quarter-final starts at 10:30am IST.

Twenty-six wickets at the Asia Cup

Charani finished the Asia Cup with 12 wickets and Deepti Sharma with 14, returns that moved both of them up the bowling list in the same ranking update.

Charani's 804 points leave her two short of the highest rating a bowler has reached in women's T20 internationals, the 806 held by Australia's Megan Schutt.

Shafali Verma also rose in that update, to sixth among batters after 236 runs at 47.20, and five places to 15th among all-rounders.

What the final in Dubai looked like

India made 183 for 5 in the final on 13 September, built on an opening stand of 129 between Shafali Verma, who made 68 from 39 balls, and Smriti Mandhana, who made 59 from 39.

Sri Lanka were bowled out for 111. Charani took 4-20 and Deepti Sharma 3-19, and India won by 72 runs for a record-extending eighth Asia Cup title.

"We played to our standards because that's what we discussed when we came here: we have certain standards, and we have to keep matching them every day," Harmanpreet Kaur said after the win in Dubai.

Only Deepti Sharma remains from the Hangzhou attack

India won gold at Hangzhou in 2023 with a different bowling group. Titas Sadhu took 3-6 and Rajeshwari Gayakwad 2-20 as Sri Lanka were held to 97 for 8 chasing India's 116 for 7, a 19-run win at Pingfeng Cricket Field.

Of the five bowlers India used in that final, only Deepti Sharma is in this squad; Sadhu, Gayakwad, Pooja Vastrakar and Devika Vaidya are not.

Harmanpreet Kaur captained that side in her 100th T20I as captain, and leads again in Japan with Smriti Mandhana as her deputy.

The bowlers around the two spinners

Renuka Singh, Kranti Gaud and Arundhati Reddy carry the seam bowling, with Radha Yadav a second left-arm spinner and the off-spinner Shreyanka Patil named subject to fitness.

Richa Ghosh and G Kamalini are the two wicketkeepers in the 15, with Bharti Fulmali, Pratika Rawal and Nandni Sharma completing it.

Pratika Rawal is in the squad because Jemimah Rodrigues tore a hamstring, an injury that also kept her out of the Asia Cup.

The one scenario in which they do not bowl

Rain has already settled one quarter-final without a ball bowled: Bangladesh went through when their tie against China was abandoned with a wet outfield, the higher-seeded side advancing.

India are among the four seeded teams and Japan, captained by Mai Yanagida, are not, so the same weather that denied Bangladesh a match would send India to the semi-finals with their attack unused.

Pakistan's quarter-final did survive, as an 11-over game, and they beat Thailand by three wickets to reach the last four.

India's quarter-final starts at 10:30am IST on Friday, with the semi-finals on 20 September and the medal matches on 22 September.

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