India's squad for Asian Games 2026 announced: Harmanpreet retains captaincy, Yastika dropped for 17-year-old wicketkeeper

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on June 30 announced the 15-member women’s squad for the Asian Games 2026. Harmanpreet Kaur has retained captaincy after India's group stage exit from the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026.

There is one major change in the squad. Yastika Bhatia has been dropped. She has been replaced by 17-year-old wicketkeeper-batter Gunalan Kamalini who has represented Mumbai Indians (MI) in 14 Women's Premier League (WPL) games.

ALSO READ: FIR filed against Punjab Kings' Shashank Singh & retired IPS officer father for alleged assault on cook

Shreyanka Patil has returned to the squad but her participation is subject to fitness clearance. Shreyanka got injured and was ruled out of the tournament. Prema Rawat was named her replacement and made her T20I debut as well. Prema did not find a place in the Asian Games squad. The 24-year-old played just one game against South Africa which India lost. She conceded 21 runs from two overs.

India’s squad for Asian Games 2026

Harmanpreet Kaur (captain), Smriti Mandhana (vice-vaptain), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (wk), G. Kamalini (wk), Bharti Fulmali, Shree Charani, Renuka Thakur, Kranti Gaud, Arundhati Reddy, Shreyanka Patil*, Radha Yadav, Nandni Sharma.

Gold medal winners in previous edition

India are currently the defending champions. In the Hangzhou Asian Games, they won the gold medal by beating Sri Lanka by 19 runs in the final.

However, after the defeat to Australia in must-win game. The head coach Amol Muzumdar had called for a change in approach in the format. It will be interesting to see if India batters show more intent to score freely, especially in the middle overs. After the Asian Games 2026, India's main target will be the ICC Champions Trophy 2027 which will be played in the T20 format.

Teenager Kamalini's statistics 

Gunalan has represented India Under-19 side. She made her T20I debut in 2025 against Sri Lanka, scoring 12 runs. She made her WPL debut for MI in 202. From 10 innings across two season, she has managed to score 107 runs, averaging 15.28. Her strike rate is 104.90.

She was signed by Rs 1.6 crore by MI in the WPL 2025 auction. She made her name with an unbeaten 29-ball 44 against Pakistan in the Under-19 Women's T20 Asia Cup.