Thailand Open the Women's T20 Asia Cup Against Hong Kong in Dubai on Friday With Indonesia in the Other Group

The Women's T20 Asia Cup starts in Dubai on Friday 28 August and runs to 13 September, and the opening match of the whole tournament is Hong Kong against Thailand. Two Southeast Asian nations are in an eight-team field.

The draw

Two teams from each group reach the semi-finals, with the final on 13 September. Sri Lanka are the defending champions from 2024.

Why this matters for the region

Thailand and Indonesia at a major Asian cricket event is not a novelty entry - it is the product of a decade of tier-two development, and Thailand in particular have been the strongest of the non-Test SEA sides for several years. Malaysia and Singapore are not among the eight.

Thailand playing the tournament's first match means the region opens the competition rather than appearing halfway down a schedule, which is a reasonable measure of how far the game has travelled here.

The fixture everyone will watch

India play Pakistan on 5 September, their first meeting since the 2026 Women's T20 World Cup. In a group of four, that result plausibly decides the group.

Dubai timing

Dubai is four hours behind Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. Afternoon and evening starts in the UAE land in the Southeast Asian late evening and small hours, which makes this a live in-play tournament for this region rather than a highlights one.

Following it on Playdash

Playdash prices T20 internationals with match winner, top batter and bowler, team and match totals, method of dismissal, over-by-over runs and fall of wicket markets, plus tournament outrights and group-winner books. Toss and first-innings-score markets open before every match and in-play pricing updates ball by ball through both innings.

Schedule, groups and format as published by the ICC. Correct at the time of writing on 27 August 2026.