Asian Games 2026 Men’s cricket: schedule, dates, venues, squads & more
Asian Games 2026 men’s cricket competition will begin from September 24.
The Asian Games 2026 cricket tournament is set to begin in Japan, with the men’s competition starting on September 24. The matches will be played in the T20 format, with 10 teams taking part in the tournament.
The tournament will have a mix of group-stage and knockout matches, with the final scheduled for October 3. Several teams have already secured a place in the quarter-finals, while the others will have to battle through the group stage.
India will enter the men’s competition as the defending champions. The Indian team won the gold medal at the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games and will now look to defend the title in Japan.
With the tournament set to begin soon, here is the complete schedule along with the dates, venues, teams and squads.
Asian Games 2026 Men’s Cricket Format
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The men’s tournament will feature 10 teams divided into two groups at the preliminary stage.
Group A consists of Afghanistan, Japan and Nepal, while Hong Kong, China, Malaysia and Oman are placed in Group B.
Group A: Afghanistan, Japan, Nepal
Group B: Hong Kong, Malaysia, Oman
The top two teams from each group will move into the quarter-finals. India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have been given direct entry into the quarter-final stage.
India will play the second-placed team from Group A in the second quarter-final on September 28. The other quarter-finals will see Pakistan face the Group B runners-up, while Sri Lanka and Bangladesh will face the winners of Groups A and B respectively.
Asian Games 2026 Men’s Cricket Schedule
The group-stage matches will be played from September 24 to 26. The knockout stage will then begin on September 28.
| Date | Match | Round | Time (IST) |
| Sep 24 | Afghanistan vs Japan | Group A | 5:30 AM |
| Sep 24 | Hong Kong vs Malaysia | Group B | 10:30 AM |
| Sep 25 | Hong Kong vs Oman | Group B | 5:30 AM |
| Sep 25 | Afghanistan vs Nepal | Group A | 10:30 AM |
| Sep 26 | Japan vs Nepal | Group A | 5:30 AM |
| Sep 26 | Malaysia vs Oman | Group B | 10:30 AM |
| Sep 28 | Pakistan vs Group B runner-up | Quarter-final 1 | 5:30 AM |
| Sep 28 | India vs Group A runner-up | Quarter-final 2 | 10:30 AM |
| Sep 29 | Sri Lanka vs Group A winner | Quarter-final 3 | 5:30 AM |
| Sep 29 | Bangladesh vs Group B winner | Quarter-final 4 | 10:30 AM |
| Oct 1 | Quarter-final 1 winner vs Quarter-final 4 winner | Semi-final 1 | 5:30 AM |
| Oct 1 | Quarter-final 2 winner vs Quarter-final 3 winner | Semi-final 2 | 10:30 AM |
| Oct 3 | TBA vs TBA | Bronze medal match | 5:30 AM |
| Oct 3 | TBA vs TBA | Final | 10:30 AM |
Asian Games 2026 Cricket Venue
All men’s cricket matches at the Asian Games 2026 will be played at the Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin, located in Japan’s Aichi Prefecture. The venue will host the group-stage games as well as the knockout matches, including the final on October 3.
Men’s Asian Games 2026: Squads
India – Shreyas Iyer (C), Tilak Varma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Abhishek Sharma, Shivam Dube, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Vipraj Nigam, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Yash Thakur.
Afghanistan – Darwish Rasooli (C), Abdullah Ahmadzai, Mohammad Akram, Ismat Alam, Faridoon Dawoodzai, Hassan Eisakhil, Mohammad Ishaq, Karim Janat, Faisal Khan, Nangyal Kharoti, Imran Mir, Arab Gul Momand, Farmanullah Safi, Khalid Taniwal, Najibullah Zadran
Bangladesh – Litton Das (C), Tanzid Hasan, Parvez Hossain Emon, Mohammed Saif Hasan, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Tawhid Hridoy, Musaddek Hossain Saikat, Yasir Ali Chowdhury, Rishad Hossain, Shak Mahedi Hasan, Nasum Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Mustafizur Rahman, Hasan Mahmud
Japan – Kendel Kadowaki-Fleming (C), Charlie Hara-Hinze, Benjamin Ito-Davis, Alester Kadowaki-Fleming, Kohei Kubota, Jake Kusuda-Nairn, Wataru Miyauchi, Reo Sakurano-Thomas, Alex Shirai-Patmore, Shoma Sugaya-Slater, Declan Suzuki, Tsuyoshi Takada, Ibrahim Takahashi, Makoto Taniyama, Lachlan Yamamoto-Lake
Nepal – Dipendra Singh Airee (C), Rohit Kumar Paudel, Sompal Kami, Karan KC, Sandeep Lamichhane, Aarif Sheikh, Aasif Sheikh, Kushal Bhurtel, Lalit Rajbanshi, Gulsan Kumar Jha, Nandan Yadav, Lokesh Bam, Sundeep Jora, Sher Malla, Kushal Malla
Oman – Sufyan Mehmood (C), Muzaffar Shiralkar, Mohammed Ali Al Balushi, Zubair Al Balushi, Shuaib Al Balushi, Nawed Al Balushi, Wasim Al Balushi, Ahmed Al Zadjali, Sameer Othman, Waheed Al Balushi, Faris Al Balushi, Mohammed Osman, Issa Rahim Al Balushi, Abdul Jalil, Qais Al Balushi
Pakistan – Sahibzada Farhan (C), Abdul Samad, Abrar Ahmed, Ahmed Daniyal, Akif Javed, Ali Raza, Arafat Minhas, Haider Ali, Hasan Nawaz, Maaz Sadaqat, Mohammad Salman Mirza, Saad Masood, Saim Ayub, Sufyan Moqim, Usman Khan
Sri Lanka – Sahan Arachchige (C), Ashen Bandara, Lasith Croospulle, Sohan de Livera, Niroshan Dickwella, Binura Fernando, Nuwanidu Fernando, Tharindu Ratnayake, Dushan Hemantha, Sineth Jayawardena, Chamika Karunaratne, Garuka Sanketh, Wanuja Sahan, Nuwan Thushara, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth
Hong Kong – Babar Hayat, Anas Khan, Shiv Mathur, Hafeez Khan, Nizakhat Khan, Yasim Murtuza, Rajab Hussain, Nasrulla Rana, Shahid Wasif, Anshuman Rath, Ayush Shukla, Ehsan Khan, Hassan Khan Mohammad, Mohammad Ghazanfar, Mohammad Waheed.
Malaysia – Muhammad Amir Azim, Sharvin Muniandy, Aslam Khan Malik, Rahim Khan, Syed Aziz Mubarak, Muhammad Syahadat, Muhammad Akram, Amir Khan Malik, Muhammad Haziq Aiman, Ainool Hafiz, Virandeep Singh, Pawandeep Singh, Azri Azhar, and Muhammad Wafiq.
When will Asian Games 2026 men’s cricket start?
The men’s cricket tournament will begin on September 24, 2026.
When is the Asian Games 2026 men’s cricket final?
The men’s cricket final is scheduled for October 3, 2026.