The Indian women’s cricket team continued its winning streak in the Women’s Asia Cup 2026, defeating Hong Kong, China by a massive 137 runs. Opener Smriti Mandhana’s record-breaking 124 in the one-sided match at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium helped India register their second consecutive victory and qualify for the semi-finals.

Women’s Asia Cup 2026: Smriti Mandhana’s blistering century powers India to a massive 137-run win over Hong Kong, sealing a place in the semi-finals.

Mandhana storm: Mithali Raj and Meg Lanning’s records shattered

Smriti Mandhana led the Indian team to an aggressive start after winning the toss and electing to bat first. Mandhana reached her century in just 57 balls, scoring a historic 124 runs. This was her second century of her T20 International career. With this, Mandhana became the first Indian woman player to score two centuries in T20 Internationals.

During her innings, Mandhana surpassed former Indian captain Mithali Raj’s national record for most runs in women’s international cricket (10,868 runs). Furthermore, she also surpassed Australian legend Meg Lanning (17 centuries) for the most centuries in women’s international cricket with her 18th century.

Middle order struggles, India make 193

Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma gave India a solid start, adding 74 runs for the first wicket. Verma was dismissed for 28. However, as in the first match against Thailand, India’s middle order struggled in this match as well.

Apart from Mandhana, no other batsman could reach 20 runs. Pratika Rawal scored 10, captain Harmanpreet Kaur 10, and Richa Ghosh 11. India posted a mammoth total of 193 for 5 in their allotted 20 overs.

Deepti Sharma created history, Hong Kong were bowled out for 56 runs.

Chasing a target of 194, Hong Kong got off to a slow start. Facing a tight spell from the Indian fast bowlers and spinners, Hong Kong managed only 16 runs for the loss of one wicket in the powerplay. The entire team was all out for just 56 runs in 16.2 overs. Captain Natasha Mills top-scored for Hong Kong with 15 runs.

For India, off-spinner Deepti Sharma took 3 wickets for 9 runs in 3 overs. With these three wickets, Deepti Sharma became the highest wicket-taker in women’s T20 International history. She now has 174 wickets in this format. Besides Deepti, Nandini Sharma, Shri Charani, and Prema Rawat took 2 wickets each.

Team India’s journey ahead

With two big wins in consecutive matches (against Thailand and Hong Kong), the Indian team advanced straight from the group stage to the semifinals. However, the lack of runs from the top order and the middle order remains a concern for the team management ahead of the knockout matches.