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India’s domination in the Women’s Asia Cup continued as they bagged another title, defeating Sri Lanka in Dubai on September 13. Having played in all 10 Women’s Asia Cup finals, the Women in Blue have now secured eight titles, clearly showcasing their dominance over the years.

Throughout the recently-concluded edition, India remained unbeaten, winning all five games — three in the group stage, the semi-final and the final. But this Asia Cup win should not convince anyone that India have improved significantly in their approach to T20Is.

India have clearly struggled in the last two T20 World Cups, having suffered group-stage exits, and hence, questions have started to be raised. Even in this Asia Cup, apart from a few positives, there are still several areas that need to be improved. Otherwise, despite being so dominant in Asia, they will struggle against top teams like Australia, England and South Africa.

Positives

Mandhana-Shafali opening pair

The biggest positive from India’s batting unit was the opening pair of Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma. The Women in Blue scored 741 runs in five matches, with 449 of those runs coming from the duo — Shafali scored 236, the tournament’s highest, while Mandhana made 213, the second-highest.

That means 61% of India’s runs came from the two openers, clearly showing how dependent the team is on them to get a good start and provide a solid foundation for the following batters.

Spin bowling unit

India’s spinners were expected to deliver in Dubai conditions, and they did exactly that. On typical Dubai pitches, where spinners were seen getting plenty of purchase throughout the competition, India’s spin unit made the most of it, taking 35 of the 47 wickets picked up by the team in the tournament — approximately 75.5%.

Deepti Sharma led the charge with 14 wickets, the tournament’s highest, while N Shree Charani took 12, the second-highest. Prema Rawat picked up seven wickets, while Shafali Verma chipped in with two.

Areas of concern

Future of Pratika Rawal

Before the Asia Cup, when Pratika Rawal received her maiden T20I call-up, some eyebrows were raised. Now, the fans are raising even more questions in the backdrop of her failures in the Asia Cup.

Scores of 22 off 18 against Thailand, 10 off 12 against Hong Kong, China, four off three against Pakistan and 20 off 24 against Bangladesh, while batting at number three, clearly did not impress the team management. Hence, they decided to drop her for the final and brought in youngster, G Kamalini, who impressed with an unbeaten cameo of 15 off five, including one four and a six.

There were glimpses of her potential, but Pratika clearly failed to grab the opportunities provided to her. She also dropped four catches across the Pakistan and Bangladesh clashes. Now, going into the Asian Games, whether she can make a comeback into the playing XI remains to be seen.

Below par middle order

India’s middle order was a major concern, given the kind of struggles they displayed throughout the tournament. Despite their openers — both or either one of them — providing solid starts, the middle order failed to capitalise and carry that momentum through the rest of the innings.

India’s middle order, from numbers four to seven, managed only 174 runs off 169 balls in the competition, which is better than only Thailand, Hong Kong, China, Indonesia and UAE. Fans were particularly left stunned and frustrated by the recurring struggles of skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and wicketkeeper-batter Richa Ghosh.

Kranti’s bowling

The pitches were spin-friendly, but pacers like Bangladesh’s Marufa Akhter and Pakistan’s Fatima Sana left a positive impression with their bowling. For India, Nandni Sharma ended up picking seven wickets, courtesy of her slower deliveries and cutters, which were expected to help her do well in Dubai conditions.

For Kranti, however, only two wickets in five games is a disappointing return. She could have done better with the new ball. The lack of variations might also be making her a bit predictable in white-ball formats, and that is an area for the young pacer to work on going forward.

Fielding and running between the wickets

India dropped 12 catches in the tournament, including three in the semi-final against Bangladesh and five in the final against Sri Lanka. Most of those chances were catchable, and this is what can make a huge difference when they play against teams like Australia, England and South Africa in T20 World Cups.

It is not just catching. Ground fielding also needs to improve, as saving runs can make a huge difference, especially in a low-scoring affair.

Another major concern has been India’s running between the wickets. Throughout the tournament, there were quite a few calls for runs that left fans stunned, with the run-out dismissal of Smriti Mandhana in the final being the prime example.

Skipper Harmanpreet hit the ball straight to point and began running. Mandhana responded, but then Harmanpreet stopped before running again, eventually leaving Mandhana confused and sacrificing her wicket for 59 off 39.

Clearly, there is a lack of communication, understanding and judgement when it comes to run-out dismissals and mix-ups India had in the Asia Cup.

Hence, with all these concerns to be looked into, the Women in Blue are now set for their Asian Games campaign in Japan, where they will play the hosts in the quarter-final. Again, they will be firm favourites to bag the gold medal. But the bigger question remains: can India’s dominance in Asia translate into a convincing T20 approach against the best teams in the world?

The Asia Cup title is another reminder of India’s dominance in the region. But it should not mask the concerns that remain. The Asian Games will be another opportunity to address them, because when the opposition gets stronger, these shortcomings could become much harder to hide.

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Barcelona [Spain], September 14 (ANI): Barcelona maintained their perfect start to the 2026-27 La Liga season after defeating Levante 4-2 at the Ciutat de València on Sunday, with Karim Adeyemi scoring a stunning late goal to seal victory for the Catalan side.

Barcelona looked set for a comfortable win after racing to a three-goal lead, but Levante mounted a late comeback attempt with two goals in the final stages before Adeyemi’s stoppage-time strike ended the contest.

The victory marked Barcelona’s sixth consecutive competitive win of the season, matching the club’s best-ever 100 per cent start to a campaign. They remain at the top of the La Liga table.

Xavi Espart opened the scoring for Barcelona in the fifth minute with a low right-footed effort from the edge of the box, marking his first competitive goal for the club.

Barcelona doubled their advantage in the 19th minute when Lamine Yamal finished off a well-worked move involving Fermín López and Raphinha. The Brazilian winger played a key role in the attack, providing his second assist of the match.

Lamine struck again shortly after the restart, converting a penalty after being brought down inside the box by Mandi to put Barça 3-0 ahead.

However, Levante refused to give up and reduced the deficit in the 79th minute through Iván Romero, who capitalised on a defensive mistake before rounding goalkeeper Joan Garcia and scoring into an empty net.

The hosts continued to push, and Brugué scored in the 88th minute from a rebound to make it 3-2, raising hopes of a dramatic comeback.

But Adeyemi had the final say, producing a brilliant solo effort in stoppage time. The German forward ran from the halfway line, beat Mandi with a backheel and calmly finished to secure all three points for Barcelona.

Barcelona will now look to create club history when they face Racing Santander at Spotify Camp Nou on Wednesday. A victory would give them seven wins from seven matches at the start of a season for the first time in their history. (ANI)

(This content is sourced from a syndicated feed and is published as received. The Tribune assumes no responsibility or liability for its accuracy, completeness, or content.)

India vs Afghanistan 2026: Former world No. 1 T20I batter Abhishek Sharma smashed a blazing 82 off 32 balls with 7 sixes and 7 fours as Shreyas Iyer’s side began a three-match series against ‘hosts’ Afghanistan with a dominant seven-wicket win and more than six overs to spare at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on Sunday.

Abhishek’s explosive knock came with a strike-rate of 256.25 and put on a match-winning partnership of 121 runs in just 53 balls with his Sunrisers Hyderabad teammate Ishan Kishan, who notched up 42 in 33 balls with 1 six and 5 fours. The Team India opener set a new T20I world record for India surpassing former India T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav in the process.

The Punjab southpaw, who was retained for Rs 14 crore by Kavya Maran’s SRH, notched up his third fifty-plus score at a strike-rate of over 250 for India in his T20I career. Mumbai Indians batter Suryakumar Yadav has hit two fifty-plus scores at a strike-rate of 250 in T20I cricket while batters like Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh, Ishan Kishan, Shivam Dube and Hardik Pandya have only one fifty at strike-rate of over 250.

WATCH Abhishek Sharma score a blazing fifty against Afghanistan in the 1st T20I match HERE…

Abhishek Sharma doing what he does best

Stream the Afghanistan vs India T20I series LIVE only on FanCode #AFGvIND pic.twitter.com/M6C9cEspAY

— FanCode (@FanCode) September 13, 2026

Abhishek Sharma’s fifty came off only 22 balls on Sunday – his 14th fifty in T20I cricket. Out of these 14 fifties, 12 have come under 25 balls. No other batter in history of T20I cricket has achieved this feat with Suryakumar Yadav being 2nd best with 9 fifties in less than 25 balls.

“I mean, of course, once you have decided, because I still remember two years back we decided we want to play in a certain way. We want to dominate all the teams throughout the whole year before the World Cup and things went pretty well for all the team, and especially for the batsmen as well,” Abhishek Sharma said in the post-match presentation on Sunday.

Abhishek Sharma won his sixth ‘Player of the Match’ award in T20I, equally the record of Ishan Kishan and Kuldeep Yadav in this format for India. Suryakumar Yadav holds the Indian record currently with 17 ‘Player of the Match’ awards while former India captain Virat Kohli retired with 16.

“But I think one or two series won’t define our team as a batting unit, because the way we all think as a batting unit, it always makes a team first. So we always wanted to give that start as openers, especially wickets like this, if you’re chasing 150, 160, and you give an early start as openers, it always makes you on the winning side,” Abhishek added.

Indian captain Shreyas Iyer felt Abhishek Sharma’s batting was simply ‘flawless’ on Sunday. “Starting off with Abhishek, I feel that the shots he played, it was flawless, and some of them were exemplary. But talking about Ishan, yeah, he’s been in great form currently, and the way he’s been portraying himself in the dressing room and also on the ground during practice sessions, he’s very relaxed, calm, and he knows his game at the moment,” Iyer said.