India vs Japan Asian Games Women Highlights: Shafali blitzkrieg takes India to thumping 8-wicket win; Bangladesh next

India vs Japan Asian Games Women Highlights: Fifth over underway. Four for Shafali off the first ball. Lovely drive on the on offside. One more four. Nice cut shot past point. She is too good today. Richa Ghosh gets in on the act now and picks up a four. MATCH OVER!

Off the last ball of the fifth over, Shafali picks up a huge six to seal the deal for the Indians. She is unbeaten on 40 off 15 balls. India will now play Bangladesh in the semifinals on Sunday.

India vs Japan Asian Games Women LIVE: She hits a nice four straight back but off the very next ball, she goes back. India two wickets down now. There is an edge and a simple catch is taken on the offside. Richa Ghosh is up next. Off the last ball of the over, Shafali hits a huge six over long-on. India 31/2 after three overs.

India vs Japan Asian Games Women LIVE: Good shot but she hit it too well. And a nice catch is taken at long-on. She had a good opportunity to get some nice runs under her belt but she has departed without even opening her account. Bharti Fulmali is up next. Wicket maiden. India 17/1 after two overs.

India vs Japan Asian Games Women LIVE: Three boundaries for Shafali Verma. All on the off side. First throgh the covers. Second over mid-on and third past point. Just too good. India have shown their intent. One more boundary for Shafali, one-bounce four over the covers. India 17/0 after the first over. By the way, it's not Smriti Mandhana her opening partner today. It's Kamalini.

India vs Japan Asian Games Women LIVE: Shreyanka Patil takes the last wicket and Japan are all out off the fifth ball of the last over of the innings. The hosts came into this game looking not to get bowled out but they failed. India should now chase it down within the powerplay. If not in six, then it shouldn't be beyond seven overs for sure. Remember, the winners of this match will play Bangladesh in the semifinals.

India vs Japan Asian Games Women LIVE: Leading edge from Akari Kano and Bharti Fulmali takes a nice catch. Here is one more wicket for Charani. Toguchi goes for duck now. Aerial shot taken at mid-on. Fielder from long-on ran in to complete the simple catch. Japan have totally lost the plot in the second half of their innings. Japan 56/9 after 19 overs.

India vs Japan Asian Games Women LIVE: Chandel goes for a duck. Nishimura taps and runs straight away and slips up halfway down. Ahilya Chandel responds to the call but is run out at the striker's end. Her expression says there was no run. Japan 55/7 in 18 overs.

India vs Japan Asian Games Women LIVE: At the loss of four wickets and in the 17th over. Here is another wicket for India. Kato goes for 3. Shafali Verma takes her second wicket. Simple catch for Harmanpreet Kaur at mid-off. The edge went a little aerial. One more wicket, this time a runout. Japan, after being patient in the first half, are losing the plot now. Six wickets down

India vs Japan Asian Games Women LIVE: Off Deepti. Lovely half sweep down leg. Japan 46/3. Meanwhile, there is another wicket that comes India's way. It's Shafali Verma this time getting in on the act. Opener Kato's resistance finally comes to an end. She goes for 25 off 47 balls. Japan 47/4 after 15 overs.

India vs Japan Asian Games Women LIVE: That appears to be the instruction from the team management. Just don't get bowled out, even if there are not many runs on the board. Frankly, not a bad strategy. Just as we wrote that, Japan lose their third wicket. Deepti Sharma is among the wickets now. Erika Oda goes for 5. Slog sweep taken at deep midwicket. Shreyanka Patil takes the catch.

India vs Japan Asian Games Women LIVE: Japan 30/2 after 10 overs. Even since the spinners have come on to bowl, the Japanese batters are struggling. Not their fault, to be honest. India have some of the best spinners in the world. Shree Charani and Deepti Sharma are just too good. One can only feel bad for the host team.

India vs Japan Asian Games Women LIVE: Shree Charani strikes. In fact, two wickets in the over. First Iwasaki is removed for 10, then captain Yanagida is caught behind for a duck. And just like that, Japan have lost two wickets. Double wicket maiden. Iwasaki wanted to hit a boundary in the similar fashion as the last ball of the previous over but this time she found Smriti Mandhana who pedalled back a little to complete the catch at long-on. As far as Yanagida is concerned, she was totally taken aback.

India vs Japan Asian Games Women LIVE: Kato picks up the first boundary, in the direction of third man. Not a convincing shot. Here is another boundary, this time from the bat of Iwasaki. A nice lofted shot over mid-on. Japan 21/0 after five overs. Nine runs off the Charani over.

India vs Japan Asian Games Women LIVE: The Indian bowlers have bowled well so far but they are yet to take their first Japanese wicket. Frankly, the wicket doesn't look that juicy. Most of the balls from the pacers have been played by the Japanese batters without much trouble, even though there are not many runs to speak of. Basically, they have been untroubled so far.

India vs Japan Asian Games Women LIVE: The Japanese batters look a bit defensive. So far there is no real intention to go for big shots. Must be some strategy. They want to play all 20 overs, it seems. It's a big game for them, against one of the biggest teams in the world. They don't want to bomb it by being over-aggressive. May just fold for a nothing total.

India vs Japan Asian Games Women LIVE: Just two runs from the first over. A double off the third ball from the bat of Haruna Iwasaki. Lovely drive on the offside. Ayaka Kato-Stafford is the other Japanese batter. Good start for India. Nandani Sharma to bowl the second over.

India vs Japan Asian Games Women LIVE: Japan first. Host nation and there is plenty of support for them in the stands. Now it's India. Very sober-looking Indian players. The Asia Cup was different. They were lively during national anthems.

India vs Japan Asian Games Women LIVE: Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Gunalan Kamalini, Harmanpreet Kaur(c), Bharti Fulmali, Richa Ghosh(w), Deepti Sharma, Shree Charani, Shreyanka Patil, Kranti Gaud, Nandani Sharma

India vs Japan Asian Games Women LIVE: They will face Bangladesh in the semifinals. The Bangladesh-China game was washed out yesterday without a single ball being bowled and the team from the subcontinent advanced to the next round on account of their better ranking.

India vs Japan Asian Games Women LIVE: India have won the toss and decide to bowl first. That's a bit surprising. One would have thought, they would bat first and put up a massive score. But maybe, they want to finish the match quickly. Get them out for a low total and then chase it down real quick.

India vs Japan Asian Games Women LIVE: 18 minutes to the toss. Scheduled for 10 am. The boundaries are really small at Nisshin, between 60m and 65m. If India bat first, brace yourself for a run-fest.

India vs Japan Asian Games Women LIVE: There are eight teams in the fray. Quarterfinals, semifinals, final and third-place playoff. The men's format is slightly different. India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are already in the quarters where they are awaiting their last-8 opponents. There is a group stage starting September 24 and the remaining four teams come from there. The rest is the same as the women's format.

India vs Japan Asian Games Women LIVE: Haruna Iwasaki, Akari Nishimura Kano, Mai Yanagida(c), Shimako Kato, Erika Oda, Hinase Goto(w), Ahilya Chandel, Kurumi Ota, Ayumi Fujikawa, Elena Kusuda Nairn, Nonoha Yasumoto, Meg Ogawa, Seika Sumi, Erika Toguchi Quinn, Ayaka Kato-Stafford

India vs Japan Asian Games Women LIVE: Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Gunalan Kamalini, Harmanpreet Kaur(c), Bharti Fulmali, Richa Ghosh(w), Deepti Sharma, Arundhati Reddy, Shree Charani, Kranti Gaud, Nandani Sharma, Radha Yadav, Renuka Singh Thakur, Shreyanka Patil

India vs Japan Asian Games Women LIVE: To our coverage of India's quarterfinal against hosts Japan at Kisshin. The match will kick off at 10:30 am. Stay tuned for more updates.