Photo via Hindustan Times

India vs Japan Asian Games Women LIVE: Harmanpreet wins the toss and decides to bowl

India began their women's cricket title defense at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games by electing to field against tournament hosts Japan in their quarterfinal clash at Nisshin, a venue featuring boundaries measuring just 60 to 65 meters. Fresh off an undefeated five-match run to capture the Asia Cup trophy the preceding Sunday—triumphing over Thailand, Hong Kong, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka—the defending champions named a lineup featuring Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Gunalan Kamalini, Bharti Fulmali, Richa Ghosh, Deepti Sharma, Shree Charani, Shreyanka Patil, Kranti Gaud, Nandani Sharma, and captain Harmanpreet Kaur.

The eight-team women's competition advances straight from the quarterfinals to medal matches. The victor of this fixture will move on to the semifinals to play Bangladesh, who progressed after weather completely washed out their scheduled encounter with China and earned qualification via a superior ranking.