India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have been handed direct qualification to the knockout stage (quarter-finals) of the men’s cricket competition at the 2026 Asian Games, with the remaining six teams set to compete in a preliminary round for the final four places. The draw for both the men’s and women’s cricket events was unveiled on Friday. The men’s tournament will feature 10 teams, while eight sides will contest the women’s competition.
India and Pakistan will face different opponents in the quarterfinals, so the marquee match between the two rivals can now take place only in the final. The Men in Blue will face either Bangladesh or China if they qualify for the last four, while Pakistan could face Sri Lanka in the semi-finals.
Scheduled from September 24 to October 1, the men’s event will begin with two groups of three teams. Afghanistan, Japan and Nepal have been placed in Group A, while Hong Kong, Malaysia and Oman will contest Group B. The top two teams from each group will advance to the knockout stage, where they will be joined by the four seeded nations that received automatic qualification.
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The women’s competition, to be held from September 17 to 22, will begin at the quarter-final stage. India will open their campaign against Japan; Bangladesh will face China; Sri Lanka will meet Malaysia; and Pakistan will face Thailand. The four winners will move into the semi-finals.
All cricket matches at the Asian Games will be staged in Nagoya, Japan, with the T20 format retained for both the men’s and women’s tournaments.
India will arrive in Nagoya as the defending champions in both competitions after completing a historic double at the 2023 Asian Games. The men’s final against Afghanistan was abandoned due to rain after Afghanistan reached 112 for five in 18.2 overs, with India awarded the gold medal as the higher-seeded team under the tournament regulations.
The Indian women’s team also finished atop the podium in 2023, defeating Sri Lanka by 19 runs in the gold-medal match.
Squads
Both India and Pakistan men’s teams have already announced their squads for the upcoming Asian Games. The Men in Blue decided to send a full-strength squad despite the continental tournament clashing with India’s T20I and ODI series against the West Indies.
On the other hand, Pakistan are not sending their full strength squad.
India: Shreyas Iyer (c), Tilak Varma, Ravi Bishnoi, Abhishek Sharma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Jasprit Bumrah, Sanju Samson, Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Ishan Kishan, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Shivam Dube, Varun Chakravarthy, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.
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.