India Women face Bangladesh Women in the first semi-final of the Women's Asia Cup 2026 at Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Thursday, September 10. The Indians arrived at the knockout stage having won all three of their group matches, while Bangladesh finished second in Group B with two wins from three matches.
Shafali Verma spoke ahead of the match and expressed confidence in the squad's readiness. The Women in Blue hold a 20-3 record against Bangladesh in women's T20 internationals. Shafali has carried strong form into the semi-final and spoke about drawing on a recent performance against Bangladesh as a source of confidence.
"As a batter, whenever I go to bat, I just start from zero. But what came from that innings, it's just confidence. So, I will take that confidence and just start from zero again," Shafali was quoted as saying by ICC.
"Of course, the conditions here are similar, like how it is in India. So, we all know the conditions. There is a bit of turn in the wicket. We all are prepared about that and I also know about the conditions.So, I just go out there, take time and enjoy it," Shafali added on the conditions at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. India had a gap between their final group match and the semi-final, which the squad used for recovery and practice.
"We had good preparation. We got four days of break and on those days, we recovered well and did practice as well. So, we all are ready for the semis," she said.Questions have been raised about India's middle order, with Bharti Fulmali and Richa Ghosh among those under scrutiny."Well, I would say there are a bit of bad days. But they all are very good players. They all are very good batters. Just talking about Bharti (Fulmali) and Richa (Ghosh), they all are very good finishers and even do great things in the middle order as well. So, I am pretty sure they will do well for our team," Shafali added.
