India women’s team to take on Japan in Asian Games quarter-final
The official draw for the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 games took held on Thursday, with India’s women’s cricket team facing Japan in the quarter-finals.
This meeting is a key fixture in the tournament’s elimination phase, with both clubs vying for a spot in the semifinals. India’s women’s team won gold at the Hangzhou Asian Games in 2023, establishing themselves as strong contenders for the upcoming continental competition.
Harmanpreet Kaur will lead India’s women’s team, with Smriti Mandhana as her deputy. A win for India will advance them to the semi-finals against either Bangladesh or China, depending on the results of the other quarter-final matches.
The women’s cricket competition will take place at Korogi Athletic Park in Aichi Prefecture from September 17 to 22, with all matches being played in the T20 format and bearing full international status.
What are the other quarterfinal matchups in the Asian Games 2026?
Sri Lanka will face Malaysia in the women’s quarter-finals, while Pakistan will face Thailand to begin their campaign. These matches complete the women’s knockout stage schedule. The tournament structure reflects the competitive strength of women’s cricket in Asia, with numerous strong teams vying for regional titles.
The remaining four quarter-final matches will be decided in a qualifying round involving six nations. Afghanistan, Japan, and Nepal will participate in Group A, with Hong Kong, China, Malaysia, and Oman in Group B. The top two teams from each group advance to the quarterfinals, where they will face the seeded nations.
Who will India’s men’s team meet in the quarterfinals?
India’s men’s team will play a quarter-final against an opponent yet to be determined by the draw procedure. The men’s tournament is set to take place from September 24 to October 1, and it will be played in T20 format with full international status. Shreyas Iyer captains the men’s team, with Tilak Varma serving as vice-captain, and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is among the 15 players nominated to the roster.
Cricket will return to the Asian Games for the fourth time, following previous editions in Guangzhou in 2010, Incheon in 2014, and Hangzhou in 2023. India won both gold medals in the most recent Asian Games, demonstrating its supremacy in the sport on the continental level. The sport will also return to the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028, ending a long absence from the Olympic program.
