The Indian men’s and women’s cricket teams will be in action at the Asian Games 2026 in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan. The quadrennial event is scheduled to begin on September 19 and run until October 4, with cricket making its fourth appearance at the Games.
The schedule for the cricket competition has already been released. The women’s competition starts on September 17, while the men’s competition begins on September 24. Both teams will enter the edition as defending champions, having won a gold medal each in Hangzhou.
All matches will be played in the T20 format and will carry full international status.
When could India and Pakistan come up against each other?
In the men’s competition, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have directly qualified for the quarter-finals as the top-seeded teams. Meanwhile, Afghanistan, Japan and Nepal in Group A, and Hong Kong China, Malaysia and Oman in Group B, will battle for the remaining four quarter-final spots. The top two teams from each group will advance to the Top 8 stage.
For an India vs Pakistan match to take place across the men’s and women’s categories, there are only two possibilities. Their clash will only be a gold-medal match or a bronze-medal play-off.
This means for the highly anticipated clash, both India and Pakistan will have to either enter the final of the tournament or lose in the semi-finals.
The Women in Blue will face Japan in the last-eight stage of the T20 tournament. A victory would send Harmanpreet Kaur’s side into a semifinal against either Bangladesh or China, both of whom have also been drawn in the same half of the bracket.
The remaining quarter-final ties will see Sri Lanka meet Malaysia, while Pakistan will begin their campaign against Thailand, with the winners advancing to the second semi-final.
India will field experienced leaders in both competitions. Harmanpreet Kaur will continue to captain the women’s side, with Smriti Mandhana as her deputy, while Shreyas Iyer will lead the men’s team alongside vice-captain Tilak Varma. Young batting sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has also been named in India’s 15-member men’s squad.