By Admin 
Asian Games 2026: The thrill of cricket will be seen in Japan this time in the Asian Games 2026. The organizers of the Asian Games on Sunday released the schedule of the cricket tournament, in which the matches will be played from September 17 to October 3. In this event to be held in Ayachi-Nagoya, Japan, the cricket tournament will start nine days before the opening ceremony like some sports.
When will women’s cricket matches be played?
Women’s cricket competition will start from 17th September and medal matches will be played from 22nd September. A total of eight teams will participate in this competition, in which the Indian team will enter as the defending champion. The women’s cricket tournament will be held in a straight knockout format from the quarterfinals onwards, that is, the team losing in every match will be out of the tournament.
Challenge of 10 teams in men’s cricket
The men’s cricket tournament is to be played from September 24, while the medal matches will be held from October 3. A total of 10 teams will participate in this. If the men’s competition is played like the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games, the top four seeded teams will enter the quarterfinals directly. The remaining six teams will play preliminary matches to determine the four quarterfinal teams.
Match time and location
There will be double-headers on all match days. The morning match will start at 9 am local time, which will end at 5:30 am Indian time. At the same time, the afternoon matches will start in Japan at 2 pm i.e. 10:30 am Indian time. All matches will be played at Korogi Athletic Park in Ayaichi Prefecture.
India’s preparation and past record
India will have teams from both men’s and women’s categories in the 2023 Asian Games. Young players were given a chance in the men’s team and the captaincy was taken over by Rituraj Gaikwad. The team performed brilliantly, defeating Nepal and Bangladesh and won the gold medal on the basis of ranking when the final was canceled due to rain. This time too, a similar performance is expected to be seen from the Indian team.
India’s team for 2023 Asian Games
Men’s team- Ruturaj Gaikwad (captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rahul Tripathi, Tilak Verma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wicketkeeper), Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Shivam Dubey, Prabhsimran Singh (wicketkeeper), Akash Deep.
Women’s team: Harmanpreet Kaur (captain), Smriti Mandhana (vice-captain), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (wicket-keeper), Amanjot Kaur, Devika Vaidya, Pooja Vastrakar, Titus Sadhu, Rajeshwari Gaikwad, Minnu Mani, Kanika Ahuja, Uma Chhetri (wicket-keeper), Anusha Bareddy.