India’s men’s and women’s cricket teams now have an idea of the path they need to take to defend their Asian Games gold medals after the fixtures for the 2026 event were officially released.
The sport will be staged for the fourth time at the continental meet, which will be held in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, from September 19 to October 4. The women’s tournament will start on September 17, with the men’s event beginning on September 24, with matches being played in the T20 format and having full international status.
India Eye Back-to-Back Gold Medals At Asian Games
India head into the competition as defending champions after securing gold in both men’s and women’s events at the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou.
In the men’s tournament, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka have all qualified for the quarter-finals as top four seeds. The other two spots in the last eight have been decided by the group stage, which sees Afghanistan, Japan, and Nepal in Group A and Hong Kong China, Malaysia, and Oman in Group B. The top two teams from each group will progress to the quarter-finals.
The draw also throws up the prospect of an eagerly anticipated India-Pakistan clash, although the sides can only face each other once in Hangzhou, in either the semi-finals or the gold medal match.
India’s women’s team, led by Harmanpreet Kaur, will face hosts Japan in the first quarter-final and a win would see the Women in Blue advance to the semi-finals against either Bangladesh or China, as both nations are placed in the opposite half of the draw.
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The other two matches in the women’s quarter-finals will see Sri Lanka take on Malaysia and Pakistan face Thailand.
India have named their squads for the competition, with the women’s team captained by Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana as vice-captain, while in the men’s team Shreyas Iyer leads his side with Tilak Varma as his deputy.
The men’s squad also contains teenage sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who has been in sensational form this season and is set to be one of the standouts of the tournament.
With the prize of continental supremacy on the line, and a shot at defending their Asian Games titles from Hangzhou, the Indian teams will be eager to make their mark on the tournament.
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