The Asian Games 2026 in Aichi-Nagoya are around the corner, and BCCI has announced full-strength squads for both men’s and women’s cricket.
The men’s team, led by Ruturaj Gaikwad, lifted the gold medal there, though in unusual circumstances. The title-decider against Afghanistan was washed out completely, and India were awarded gold purely based on their higher international ranking.
The women’s side, meanwhile, did it the hard way as Harmanpreet Kaur’s team beat Sri Lanka by 19 runs in the final to take the gold.
The women’s squad has had to deal with one unwanted disruption, though, as Jemimah Rodrigues has been ruled out with an injury, and Pratika Rawal steps in as her replacement.
On the men’s side, BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia confirmed that three reserve players, Rasikh Salam, Kartik Tyagi and Vicky Ostwal, will travel with the squad to Japan.
The official curtain-raiser for the Asian Games is on September 19. However, cricket doesn’t wait for the opening ceremony, as the women’s competition gets going two days earlier, on September 17, and the men’s tournament follows on September 24.
India cricket schedule at Asian Games 2026
Women’s cricket tournament
India’s women open against the tournament hosts Japan on September 17.
On the other side of the bracket that same day, Pakistan are up against Thailand.
The knockout path is fairly straightforward from there. Whoever wins the India-Japan clash will meet the victor of the September 18 match between Bangladesh and China. The Pakistan-Thailand winner, on the other hand, faces whoever comes through the meeting between Malaysia and Sri Lanka on September 18.
Both semi-finals are slated for September 20, with the bronze medal and gold medal matches both taking place on September 22.
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Quarter-final 1: India vs Japan |
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Quarter-final 2: Pakistan vs Thailand |
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Quarter-final 3: Bangladesh vs China |
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Quarter-final 4: Malaysia vs Sri Lanka |
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Semi-final 1: Winner QF1 vs Winner QF3 |
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Semi-final 2: Winner QF2 vs Winner QF4 |
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Bronze medal match (3rd place playoff) |
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Men’s cricket tournament
India’s quarter-final comes on September 28, when they face whoever finishes as Group A’s runner-up. That same day, Pakistan meet the Group B runner-up. A day later, on September 29, Sri Lanka take on the Group A winners, and Bangladesh face the Group B winners to complete the last-eight stage.
The two semi-finals follow on October 1, and just two days after that, on October 3, the bronze and gold medal finals bring the cricket competition to a close.
India cricket squad for Asian Games 2026
India’s men’s squad: Shreyas Iyer (c), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Shivam Dube, Tilak Varma (vc), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.
Reserves: Rasikh Salam, Kartik Tyagi, Vicky Ostwal.
India’s women’s squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (wk), G Kamalini (wk), Bharti Fulmali, Sree Charani, Renuka Thakur, Kranti Gaud, Arundhati Reddy, Shreyanka Patil (subject to fitness), Radha Yadav, Nandni Sharma, Pratika Rawal.
Source: www.bing.com
