Asian Games 2026 Cricket Schedule: Full List of Teams, Format, Matches, Will India vs Pakistan Happen? All You Need To Know

The schedule for the much-awaited cricket tournament at the Asian Games 2026 in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, has been officially announced. Both the Indian men’s and women’s teams will enter the competition as defending champions after their historic gold medal sweeps at the 2023 Games in Hangzhou, China.

While fans across the subcontinent are eagerly anticipating a blockbuster clash between arch-rivals India and Pakistan, the tournament’s official draw reveals that this high-voltage match can only happen under one specific condition.

How can India vs Pakistan Happen in Asian Games 2026?

According to the official fixtures, the chances of India and Pakistan crossing paths early in the tournament are virtually zero. The organizers have placed both heavyweight nations on completely opposite sides of the knockout draw.

The only condition under which an India vs Pakistan match will take place is if both teams successfully win their respective quarter-final and semi-final matches to set up a dream Gold Medal Final clash. Alternatively, they could meet in the Bronze medal playoff if both teams face unexpected defeats in their semi-final games.

Women’s Tournament Format and Fixtures

The women’s cricket competition will be held from September 17 to September 22. It will feature an eight-team direct knockout format. Because of their high global rankings, the top-seeded nations, including India, will skip the preliminary rounds and enter directly at the quarter-final stage. Harmanpreet Kaur will continue to captain the women’s side with Smriti Mandhana as her deputy.

Quarter-final Fixtures (September 17-18):

India vs Japan
Bangladesh vs China
Sri Lanka vs Malaysia
Pakistan vs Thailand

If the Indian women’s team defeats host nation Japan, they will advance to the semi-finals to face the winner of the Bangladesh vs China match. On the other side of the bracket, Pakistan must overcome Thailand, and then defeat either Sri Lanka or Malaysia, to reach the final.

Men’s Tournament Format and Fixtures

The men’s tournament will be slightly longer, running from September 24 to October 3, and will feature 10 teams. The six lower-ranked teams will first battle it out in a preliminary group stage. The top teams from this phase will progress to join the four top-seeded nations in the knockouts. The Men’s Indian Cricket team will be led by Shreyas Iyer.

Preliminary Phase (September 24-26)

Group A: Afghanistan, Japan, Nepal

Group B: Hong Kong China, Malaysia, Oman

Quarter-finals (September 28-29): The top four seeds India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh have received direct entry into the final eight and are awaiting their opponents from the group stages.

Cricket is making its fourth overall appearance at the Asian Games in 2026. The sport debuted in Guangzhou in 2010, returned in Incheon in 2014, was left out of the 2018 Jakarta Games, and made a highly successful return in Hangzhou in 2023.

As the reigning champions, the Indian contingents will carry the heavy expectations of a billion fans, aiming to maintain their unbeaten record and defend both gold medals on Japanese soil.