India Women started their Women’s Asia Cup 2026 campaign with a convincing 94-run win over Thailand, but former India cricketer Anjum Chopra was not completely satisfied with Harmanpreet Kaur’s team’s performance and pointed out a few areas that need improvement.
Anjum Chopra Questions Harmanpreet Kaur’s Team’s Batting Performance
Chopra was not happy with Kaur-led India’s batting performance, calling it far from convincing. She also pointed out that India should not be producing a batting performance like this.
Chopra said, “For me, it’s far from convincing. Ideally, India shouldn’t have batted this way. There was a 38-run partnership between Smriti and Shafali, but what happened after that? The Indian batting suddenly collapsed, with wickets falling one after another.”
Chopra said Shafali Verma’s performance was genuinely praiseworthy, but she feels India’s women’s batting needs several fixes. She pointed out how Pratika Rawal failed to read a good delivery from the leg-spinner, Deepti Sharma’s run-out, and Kaur’s poor shot as areas India need to work on.
Talking about yesterday’s India vs Thailand Women’s Asia Cup match at the Dubai International Stadium, Thailand won the toss and chose to bowl first. India came out to bat, with Smriti Mandhana and Verma putting together a good opening partnership of 38 runs.
However, the vice-captain was dismissed for 19, followed by Rawal, who added 22 runs before being dismissed by Sunida Chaturongrattana.
Verma certainly stood out with a brilliant 64 off 36 balls, but the rest of the Indian batting line-up couldn’t do much. Even captain Kaur was dismissed for just five runs, leaving India at 159/9 after 20 overs.
India’s bowling, however, looked much stronger as they bowled Thailand out for just 65 in 16.1 overs, helping the Women in Blue, led by Kaur, to secure a big 94-run victory.
India faces Hong Kong, China next on September 3.