Asian Games 2026, Indian cricket: All you need to know
What's the story
Cricket will once again be among the highlights for India at the 2026 Asian Games as the country looks to defend its two gold medals. The sport made its Asian Games debut in 2010 but missed out on the Jakarta edition in 2018. It returned at Hangzhou in 2023, where the Indian men's and women's sides won gold medals.
Historical context
Details of cricket tournaments
Both men's and women's cricket tournaments will be played in the T20 format. All matches will be played at the Korogi Sports Park (Korogi Athletic Park) in Nisshin City, Japan
The women's event will start on September 17, followed by the men's competition from September 24.
Both Indian teams will start their Asian Games campaigns in the quarter-finals. The women will take on Japan, while the men will face the second-ranked side from Group A.
Champions
India to enter as defending champions
As mentioned, India will enter the Asian Games as defending champions in both men's and women's competitions.
The 2023 men's final saw India and Afghanistan clash. While the match was washed out after the first innings, India won the gold medal as the higher seed.
In the women's final, India outrightly beat Sri Lanka to bag gold.
India Men
Shreyas to lead full-strength Team India
Shreyas Iyer will lead India Men with Tilak Varma as the vice-captain. The squad has a mix of experience and youth.
Wrist-spinner Vipraj Nigam has replaced the injured Varun Chakravarthy, earlier named in the squad.
Squad: Shreyas Iyer (captain), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, Shivam Dube, Tilak Varma (vice-captain), Nitish Reddy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Vipraj Nigam, Ravi Bishnoi, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, and Jasprit Bumrah.
India Women
Harmanpreet Kaur to spearhead women
The experienced Harmanpreet Kaur is set to lead India Women in another tournament, with Smriti Mandhana as vice-captain.
The squad includes several established players like Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma, and Richa Ghosh, among others.
Squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (captain), Smriti Mandhana (vice-captain), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh, G. Kamalini, Bharti Fulmali, Sree Charani, Renuka Singh, Kranti Gaud, Arundhati Reddy, Shreyanka Patil (subject to fitness), Radha Yadav, and Nandni Sharma.