India will begin their bid to defend both cricket gold medals at the 2026 Asian Games in Japan next month. The cricket competition will be played at the Korogi Athletic Park in Aichi Prefecture, with the women’s tournament scheduled from September 17 to 22 and the men’s event from September 24 to October 3.
India won gold in both the men’s and women’s cricket competitions at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou. They will now return to the continental event as defending champions, with both teams seeded directly into the quarterfinals.
The women’s team, led by Harmanpreet Kaur, will be the first Indian side in action. India will face hosts Japan in the quarterfinal on September 18 at 10:30 AM IST. The match will be played at 2 PM local time in Japan. A win will take India into the semifinals on September 20, while the bronze medal match and final are scheduled for September 22.
The women’s competition has eight teams divided into two groups. India, Japan, Bangladesh and China are in Group A, while Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Pakistan and Thailand make up Group B. India’s quarterfinal against Japan means there is no group-stage game for the defending champions.
The men’s competition will have 10 teams. India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have been given direct entry into the quarterfinals based on their ICC T20I rankings. Afghanistan, Japan and Nepal are in Group A, while Hong Kong, Malaysia and Oman are in Group B.
Shreyas Iyer’s Indian team will play its first match on September 28. India will take on the second-placed team from Group A at 10:30 AM IST. The group matches will be played from September 24 to 26, with the semifinals scheduled for October 1 and the final on October 3.
India men’s squad and schedule
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.
| Date | Match | Time (IST) |
| September 24 | Afghanistan vs Japan | 5:30 AM |
| September 24 | Hong Kong vs Malaysia | 10:30 AM |
| September 25 | Hong Kong vs Oman | 5:30 AM |
| September 25 | Afghanistan vs Nepal | 10:30 AM |
| September 26 | Japan vs Nepal | 5:30 AM |
| September 26 | Malaysia vs Oman | 10:30 AM |
| September 28 | Quarterfinal 1 (Pakistan vs 2nd Group B) | 5:30 AM |
| September 28 | Quarterfinal 2 (India vs 2nd Group A) | 10:30 AM |
| September 29 | Quarterfinal 3 (Sri Lanka vs Winner Group A) | 5:30 AM |
| September 29 | Quarterfinal 4 (Bangladesh vs Winner Group B) | 10:30 AM |
| October 1 | Semifinal 1 | 5:30 AM |
| October 1 | Semifinal 2 | 10:30 AM |
| October 3 | Bronze Medal Match | 5:30 AM |
| October 3 | Final | 10:30 AM |
India women’s team squad and schedule
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.
| Date | Match | Time (IST) |
| September 17 | Bangladesh vs China | 5:30 AM |
| September 17 | Pakistan vs Thailand | 10:30 AM |
| September 18 | Sri Lanka vs Malaysia | 5:30 AM |
| September 18 | India vs Japan | 10:30 AM |
| September 20 | Semifinal 1 | 5:30 AM |
| September 20 | Semifinal 2 | 10:30 AM |
| September 22 | Bronze Medal Match | 5:30 AM |
| September 22 | Final | 10:30 AM |