Asian Games men's cricket begins in Nagoya with India waiting in the quarter-finals

India begin the defence of their Asian Games men's cricket gold at the quarter-final stage on 28 September, four days after the tournament opens without them in Nagoya

The men's competition at the 2026 Asian Games starts on 24 September at the Nisshin Cricket Ground, which sits inside Korogi Sports Park on the outskirts of Nagoya, in Japan's Aichi Prefecture.

Ten teams are entered, but only six of them play in the preliminary round. India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, the highest-ranked sides in the field, have been given byes straight into the quarter-finals.

That leaves the first three days to two groups of three, with hosts Japan facing Afghanistan in Group A and Hong Kong meeting Malaysia in Group B on the opening day.

Six teams, two groups, three days

Group A is made up of Afghanistan, Japan and Nepal. Group B holds Hong Kong, Malaysia and Oman, with each side playing the other two.

Afghanistan meet Nepal and Hong Kong play Oman on the second day, before Japan face Nepal and Malaysia meet Oman on 26 September to close the group stage.

The two group winners and the two runners-up go through to the quarter-finals, where the seeded four are waiting.

India enter on 28 September

India's first match of the tournament is a quarter-final against the Group A runner-up on 28 September. Pakistan play the Group B runner-up the same day.

Sri Lanka and Bangladesh follow on 29 September, against the winners of Group A and Group B respectively.

The semi-finals are on 1 October, with the bronze and gold medal matches two days later.

A title won without a ball bowled

India are the defending champions in both the men's and women's events, having taken gold at Hangzhou in 2022 — a Games staged in 2023, and India's first appearance in Asian Games cricket.

The men's final that year was washed out and the gold awarded to India on their higher seeding, a medal collected rather than won.

India's women retained their title on 22 September, beating Sri Lanka in the final in Nagoya to take the country's first gold of these Games.

A hybrid pitch on the edge of Nagoya

The Nisshin Cricket Ground was tested in May, when it staged the East Asia-Pacific Sub-Regional Qualifier for the T20 World Cup. Its square is a hybrid surface said to offer both bounce and turn.

"The outfield was really good and the pitch played well. So, there's huge positives first from the ground side," Japan Cricket Association chief executive Naoki Alex Miyaji told ICC Digital during that event.

Temporary stands holding 2,000 have gone up for the Games, and Miyaji expects them to fill. "There are limited tickets available, so once these fixtures are set and the tickets are available internationally as well, they're just going to go out, (be) sold out very quickly," he said.

No Full Member has played a senior international in Japan before. "It's the first time that we're going to have some Full Members come here and play cricket," Miyaji said.

Iyer takes India's T20 side to Nagoya

Shreyas Iyer, India's T20I captain, leads the squad, with Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh sharing the new ball.

Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi give the batting its shape, with Axar Patel and Washington Sundar the all-rounders and Ravi Bishnoi the frontline spinner.

India's ODI squad is elsewhere. Shubman Gill's side begins a three-match series against West Indies at home on 27 September, the day before the Asian Games quarter-finals.

The tournament runs to 3 October, when the bronze and gold medal matches are played in Nagoya.

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