Asian Games 2026: Shreyas Iyer-Led India Begin Men’s Cricket Campaign

The men’s cricket competition at the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, begins on September 24, with defending champions India entering the tournament directly at the quarter-final stage. Led by Shreyas Iyer, India will play their opening match on September 28 at 10:30 AM IST against the team finishing second in Group A, which features Afghanistan, Japan and Nepal. India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have received direct quarter-final berths.

The men’s tournament features two groups, with the top two teams from each group advancing to the knockout stage. India won the men’s cricket gold at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games and will look to defend the title in Japan. India’s squad includes Shreyas Iyer, Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, Shivam Dube, Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.