Asian Games: Asian Games 2026 to be held in Japan will witness the thrill of cricket. Cricket was also played in the T20 format in the games held in China 3 years ago, where India won the gold medal. Now once again the Indian team will enter the field with the intention of winning gold and for this the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has selected its main (full-strength) team. However, a recent report has claimed that the BCCI is not satisfied with the basic facilities like dressing rooms to washrooms at the venues where the cricket matches are to be held in Japan, which may lead to the sending of the second row (B-team).
This time the Asian Games are going to be organized at Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, in which cricket has also been included. The sports festival will officially start from September 19, but the women’s cricket matches will be played from September 17 to September 22. While the men’s cricket competition will be organized from September 24 to October 3. Asia’s strongest teams like India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are participating in both these events.
Which arrangements is the BCCI unhappy with?
BCCI has selected a strong Indian squad for both these events, which includes all the key players. However, now it seems that BCCI may change the squad. A report has claimed that the BCCI as well as the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) are not satisfied with the facilities and arrangements available at the venue that has been decided for cricket at Aichi-Nagoya.
At the ground where the matches are to be played, tents are being erected for the players to get ready, which will be used as dressing rooms. Not only this, the washroom for the players is located around 500 meters away from this tent. Apart from this, the hotel allotted to the players for stay is also very small.
Will there be a change in Team India?
According to the report, the Japan Olympic Committee was made aware of all these objections during the ACC meeting. Now the BCCI will soon send an observer to Japan, who will review the arrangements at the venue. BCCI will take further decision only on the basis of this inspector’s report. If the situation does not improve, it will be interesting to see what changes the BCCI makes in the squad and whether these changes will be reflected in both the women’s and men’s teams.
Men’s team will be led by regular captain Shreyas Iyer, which includes stars like Jasprit Bumrah, Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Arshdeep Singh. While the women’s team will be captained by Harmanpreet Kaur, with all the key players including Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh.
Indian men’s squad
Shreyas Iyer (captain), Tilak Verma (vice-captain), Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Abhishek Sharma, Shivam Dubey, Akshar Patel, Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Varun Chakraborty, Ravi Bishnoi, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Jasprit Bumrah.
Indian Women’s Squad
Harmanpreet Kaur (Captain), Smriti Mandhana (Vice-Captain), Richa Ghosh (Wicketkeeper), G. Kamalini (wicketkeeper), Shefali Verma, Jemima Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Bharti Phulmali, Sri Charani, Renuka Singh Thakur, Kranti Goud, Arundhati Reddy, Shreyanka Patil, Radha Yadav, Nandini Sharma.