Asian Games 2026: Cricket Schedule Unveiled for Men's and Women's Teams

The Asian Games 2026 will feature exciting cricket competitions for both men's and women's teams in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan. With the Indian teams as reigning champions, the schedule has been released, detailing matchups and team rosters. The women's tournament kicks off on September 17, followed by the men's from September 24. Key matchups, including a potential clash between India and Pakistan, are highly anticipated. Read on for the full schedule and team details.

By Narendra Chaudhary Jul 23, 2026, 23:34 IST

Cricket Competition Schedule Announced

The schedule for the cricket events featuring both men's and women's teams at the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, has been officially announced. The matches will take place at the Korogi Athletic Park, where top teams from across the continent will compete with full international T20 status. This will be the fourth time cricket is included in the Asian Games, following its previous appearances in Guangzhou (2010), Incheon (2014), and Hangzhou (2023).

Attention will be focused on the Indian men's and women's teams, both of whom are the current gold medal holders and will aim to defend their titles. The women's tournament is set to kick off first, running from September 17 to September 22. India, as the defending champions, will enter directly into the quarter-finals, facing the host nation, Japan. The winner will then meet either Bangladesh or China in the semi-finals. The other quarter-final matchups include Sri Lanka against Malaysia and Pakistan versus Thailand.

The men's competition will follow, scheduled from September 24 to October 1. Traditional powerhouses like India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh have been awarded top-seed status, allowing them to skip the preliminary rounds and head straight to the quarter-finals. The remaining four knockout spots will be filled through a preliminary round involving six teams. Group A features Afghanistan, Japan, and Nepal, while Group B includes Hong Kong China, Malaysia, and Oman. The top two teams from each group will advance to face the seeded teams.

Given the current draw, a much-anticipated clash between arch-rivals India and Pakistan can only occur later in the tournament, potentially in a thrilling semi-final or the gold medal match.

India's Asian Games Squads

Men's Team: Shreyas Iyer, Tilak Varma, Ravi Bishnoi, Abhishek Sharma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Jasprit Bumrah, Sanju Samson, Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Ishan Kishan, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Shivam Dube, Varun Chakravarthy, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.

Women’s Team: Harmanpreet Kaur (Captain), Smriti Mandhana (Vice-Captain), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (WK), G. Kamalini (WK), Bharti Fulmali, Sree Charani, Renuka Thakur, Kranti Gaud, Arundhati Reddy, Shreyanka Patil*, Radha Yadav, Nandni Sharma.