Why India Will Directly Play In Asian Games 2026 Cricket Quarterfinals: Format Explained

India will begin the defence of their men’s and women’s cricket gold medals at the 2026 Asian Games from the knockout stage, but the reason for their direct entry is different in the two competitions.

In the men’s tournament, India are one of four highest-seeded teams, alongside Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, to receive a direct place in the quarter-finals. This is part of the competition format and not a special exemption because India are the defending champions.

The women’s tournament, meanwhile, has only eight participating teams and therefore starts directly with the quarter-finals. India’s women, like every other team in the event, do not have to play a preliminary round.

The defending champions will thus begin their title defence without a group-stage game in either competition. Shreyas Iyer will lead the men’s side, while Harmanpreet Kaur will captain the women’s team.

Both competitions will be played in the T20 format at Korogi Athletic Park in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. The women’s event will run from September 17 to 22, while the men’s tournament is scheduled from September 24 to October 3.

Asian Games 2026 Cricket Schedule

Asian Games 2026 Qualification Format

The men’s cricket tournament has 10 teams, which is why it has a preliminary stage before the quarter-finals.

India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have been seeded directly into the last eight. The remaining six teams -- Afghanistan, Japan, Nepal, Hong Kong China, Malaysia and Oman -- will compete for the four other quarter-final spots.

The six teams have been split into two groups:

Group A: Afghanistan, Japan and Nepal
Group B: Hong Kong China, Malaysia and Oman

Each group will produce two quarter-finalists. The top two teams from Group A and Group B will join the four seeded nations to complete the eight-team knockout line-up.

India’s quarter-final opponent will therefore come from the preliminary stage. India are scheduled to face the second-placed team from Group A in their quarter-final.

The women’s tournament follows a completely different structure. With eight teams in the competition, there is no preliminary or qualifying round. All eight teams enter directly at the quarter-final stage.

India have been drawn against hosts Japan, while the other quarter-finals are Pakistan vs Thailand, Sri Lanka vs Malaysia and Bangladesh vs China.

This distinction is important. India’s men have been given direct entry because of their seeding, whereas the Indian women are starting in the quarter-finals simply because that is the opening stage of the eight-team tournament.

Cricket will make its fourth appearance at the Asian Games in 2026, having previously featured at the 2010 Guangzhou, 2014 Incheon and 2023 Hangzhou editions.

When Will India vs Pakistan Take Place At Asian Games 2026?

Both the Indian men's and women's cricket teams can face Pakistan at the 2026 Asian Games, but neither side can meet their arch-rivals in the early knockout rounds.

The men’s draw keeps India and Pakistan on opposite sides of the knockout bracket, meaning the two teams cannot meet in the quarter-finals or semi-finals.

They can face each other in the gold-medal match, provided both teams progress through their respective knockout fixtures.

The same possibility exists in the women’s competition. Pakistan are on the opposite side of the knockout bracket from India, meaning an India-Pakistan meeting can take place only in the gold-medal match, provided both teams reach the final.

An India-Pakistan clash could therefore take place in either the gold-medal match or the bronze-medal play-off, depending on how the teams fare in the semi-finals.

Harmanpreet Kaur will lead the Indian women’s side, who will begin their campaign against hosts Japan. A victory would take India into the semi-finals, where they would face either Bangladesh or China.

India Men's And Women's Squads For Asian Games 2026

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

India Women’s squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (captain), Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Pratika Rawal, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh, Gunalan Kamalini, Bharti Fulmali, Sree Charani, Renuka Thakur, Kranti Gaud, Arundhati Reddy, Shreyanka Patil, Radha Yadav and Nandani Sharma.