IND vs JAP, One-off T20I: Team India’s historic one-off T20I against Japan at the Sano International Cricket Ground in Sano hasn’t got off to the most promising of starts, with showers triggering a delay in the commencement of proceedings.
What is the latest update and when will the match start? Here’s what we know so far.
IND vs JAP, One-off T20I: When will the historic match between India and Japan begin?
As per IST timings, the match was to commence at 9:30 AM IST, while it was 1:00 PM according to Japan. While showers delayed the start of the play, the outfield remains wet at this stage, forcing the stakeholders to delay the inspection to 2:15 PM Local time. Hence, no time for the toss has been established as yet. If there’s no rain, the toss could be done instantly after the inspection.
IND vs JAP, One-off T20I: What is the idea behind the historic one-off match between India and Japan?
Dubbed the one-off match as ‘The Suzuki Cup’, the landmark match is being played to mark 75 years of India-Japan diplomatic ties. The game also serves as the vital warm-up ahead of the main draw of the Asian Games.
India squad: Shreyas Iyer (c), Sanju Samson (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Ishan Kishan, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Yash Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Washington Sundar, Vipraj Nigam, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.
Japan squad: Kendel Kadowaki-Fleming (c), Lachlan Yamamoto-Lake, Koji Hardgrave-Abe, Ibrahim Takahashi, Declan Suzuki, Makoto Taniyama, Benjamin Ito-Davis, Wataru Miyauchi (wk), Reo Sakurano-Thomas, Alex Shirai-Patmore, Ryan Drake, Marcus Thurgate, Kazuma Stafford, Charles Hinze.
The Men in Blue start overwhelming favourites for the match, given they are currently ranked 2nd in the ICC T20I rankings and won the T20 World Cup earlier this year, becoming the first side to defend it successfully and lift the trophy at home. At the same time, India also hold the Asian Games Gold Medal clinched during the previous edition. India are coming off a 3-0 demolition of Afghanistan at home and will be confident of retaining their Gold Medal this time around.
However, they will not take any of the opposition lightly, given the reigning champions’ recent struggles overseas, headlined by losing a T20I series to England.