AFC Women’s Cup 2026, Match 7 between HKG-W and IND-W, Group A Match Report, 03 September 2026

India 193 for 5 (Mandhana 124, Lamplugh 2-46). Hong Kong 56 (Deepti 3-9), a difference of 137 points

A second loss in a row means Hong Kong will only have some pride to play for, with their place in the next round now out of the equation.

India’s cautious start

Al-Shafali advances

Lamplugh struggled for consistency and continued to run the ball up, and Shavali didn’t need a second call. The first of the two sixes was a shovel over the deep middle; Next best – raised inside out over extra deep cover.

Shafali’s brief rise ended at 28 in the eighth over, when Marina got an excellent catch at a running, diving full-on off the bowling of Ruchita Venkatesh. By then, the opening had reached 74.

Mandhana leaps towards a record century

Her next 50 came from just 18 deliveries. The century would have been nipped in the bud had she been taken at deep square leg in the 16th over off Siu Wai, but she accelerated further soon after with her century that helped her rise to the top of the list of most international hundreds in women’s cricket.

In the 18th over, she beat Venkatesh for three consecutive sixes, while also surpassing Mithali’s record of most international innings. This helped India finish the match strongly, as the second half of their innings brought them 107 despite losing a bunch of wickets.

Nandani’s dream continues

After being bowled out with a hat-trick against Thailand, Nandani Sharma’s seam display and control were perfect with the new ball as Hong Kong crawled to 4 for 1 in four overs. The wicket, off Mariko Hill, one of the most experienced batsmen, came off a brilliant knock on the back of three successive overs. Nandani added another wicket to her kitty to finish with 2 for 6 from three overs.

Collapse

The highest partnership of the innings was 27 between Jasmin Daswani and Natasha Miles for the second wicket. A period in which they received almost no warning, choosing instead to over-hit and gain some time in the game against an opponent they were playing for the first time in 14 years.

The partnership ended when Daswani’s attempt to bowl to the leg side was intercepted by Bharti Phulmali’s leaping catch at mid-wicket to give Deepti Sharma a wicket. Six balls later, Miles was trying to cut a sharp leg-break off Prema Rawat, shooting beyond Richa Ghosh.

And that was the beginning of the collapse, when the Indian gazelle companies came close to competing, and each one of them climbed the scorecard with a full bag. There were eight single-digit scores, the highest being 15. They lost their last five wickets in 11 deliveries, collapsing from 54 for 5 to 56 all out.

India could not have asked for an easier path to the semi-finals.