Asian Games 2026: With the Indian cricket team set for their gold medal defence, their matches in the upcoming edition of Asian Games in Aichi-NagoyaJapan, their matches have been brought forward by 30 minutes. The change in timings have not been notified to all the stakeholders yet and the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) officials claim to not be aware of the same but it reflects on the official website. What is the reason behind change in timings of the Indian men’s side?
Asian Games 2026: What is the reason behind advancing the timings of the men’s team?
According to Cricbuzz sources, the change in timings was necessary as it gets dark early in Japan. Due to no lights at the venue and the men’s games likely to last longer, the stakeholders thought it was best to start the matches relatively and play fixtures under maximum sunlight. As a result, it will begin at 1:30 PM local time instead of 2:00. According to the timings in IST, the match will kickstart at 10:00 AM, with Japan three hours and 30 minutes ahead of India. The start of the morning games remain the same, scheduled to kickstart at 9:00 am local time, or 5.30 am IST.
There are no changes to the preliminary round-up games, involving teams like Afghanistan, Japan, Nepal, Hong Kong (China), Malaysia and Oman. The timings for the Indian women’s team remain unchanged too as they kick off from 9:00 am local time, or 5.30 am IST.
Asian Games 2026: When will Team India begin their campaign?
The Men in Blue have got a direct entry to the quarter-finals, meaning their matches will begin on September 28, followed by second semi-final on October 1 and potentially the gold medal match on the 3rd. The matches involving Pakistan, who are scheduled to play the first semi-final and potentially the Bronze-Medal fixture will begin at 9:00 am local time.
Nevertheless, India’s historic one-off T20I fixture against Japan on September 22 at Sano International Stadium is slated to kickstart at 9:30 AM IST (1 pm local time).
India’s men’s squad for Asian Games 2026: Shreyas Iyer (C), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (WK), Ishan Kishan (WK), Shivam Dube, Tilak Varma (VC), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Yash Thakur.
The Asian Games begins on October 19 and will run until October 4.
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