India’s men and women will defend their Asian Games cricket gold medals, with both teams entering the tournament among the favourites
The men’s team enters directly at the quarter-final stage, while the women’s side will begin with a quarter-final against hosts Japan
Cricket will be played in the T20 format at Korogi Athletic Park, with the men’s tournament running from September 24 to October 3
India will begin their Asian Games 2026 cricket campaign with both the men’s and women’s teams defending the gold medals they won at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou.
Cricket will be played in the T20 format at Korogi Athletic Park in Nisshin, Aichi Prefecture, a newly developed cricket venue that is designed to meet international competition standards. The women’s tournament will run from September 17 to 22, while the men’s competition will be held from September 24 to October 3.
India’s women will face hosts Japan in their opening quarter-final, while the men’s team, captained by Shreyas Iyer, has received a direct berth in the quarter-finals.
Asian Games 2026: Complete Cricket Schedule
The men’s tournament features 10 teams. Afghanistan, Japan and Nepal form Group A, while Hong Kong China, Malaysia and Oman are in Group B. India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have been seeded directly into the knockout stage. The top two teams from each preliminary group will join them in the quarter-finals.
Men’s Cricket Groups
Group A: Afghanistan, Japan, Nepal
Group B: Hong Kong, Malaysia, Oman
Seeded Teams: India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh
The top two teams from each group will qualify for the knockout stage, joining the four seeded teams in the quarter-finals.
Men’s Cricket Schedule
| Date | Match | Time (IST) |
| September 24 | Afghanistan vs Japan | 05:30 |
| September 24 | Hong Kong China vs Malaysia | 10:30 |
| September 25 | Hong Kong China vs Oman | 05:30 |
| September 25 | Afghanistan vs Nepal | 10:30 |
| September 26 | Japan vs Nepal | 05:30 |
| September 26 | Malaysia vs Oman | 10:30 |
| September 28 | Quarter-final 1: Pakistan vs 2nd Group B | 05:30 |
| September 28 | Quarter-final 2: India vs 2nd Group A | 10:00 |
| September 29 | Quarter-final 3: Sri Lanka vs Group A winner | 05:30 |
| September 29 | Quarter-final 4: Bangladesh vs Group B winner | 10:00 |
| October 1 | Semi-final 1 | 05:30 |
| October 1 | Semi-final 2 | 10:00 |
| October 3 | Bronze-medal match | 05:30 |
| October 3 | Final | 10:00 |
Women’s Cricket Groups
Group A: India, Japan, Bangladesh, People’s Republic of China
Group B: Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Pakistan, Thailand
Women’s Cricket Schedule
| Date | Match | Time (IST) |
| September 17 | Bangladesh vs China | 05:30 |
| September 17 | Pakistan vs Thailand | 10:30 |
| September 18 | Sri Lanka vs Malaysia | 05:30 |
| September 18 | India vs Japan | 10:30 |
| September 20 | Semi-final 1 | 05:30 |
| September 20 | Semi-final 2 | 10:30 |
| September 22 | Bronze-medal match | 05:30 |
| September 22 | Final | 10:30 |
India Squads: Iyer And Harmanpreet Lead Title Defence
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.
