Top News

There is no World Cup, there is no Asia Cup either. In such a situation, cricket fans yearning to see the clash between India and Pakistan will have to wait. The teams of India and Pakistan will now directly enter the Asian Games 2026, where like other teams of Asia, they will also try to win the gold medal. But the schedule of these games is somewhat different from tournaments like World Cup and Asia Cup. If everything goes as per the expectations then there can be a direct competition between India and Pakistan for the gold medal and if it does not happen then the India-Pakistan match will not be seen.

India-Pakistan straight into quarter finals

Asian Games 2026 will be held in Nagoya, Japan from 19 September to 4 October. Cricket has got a place in these games for the second time in a row. However, cricket matches will start from 17th September and will continue till 3rd October. In this too, first there will be women’s cricket matches with 8 teams, after which there will be men’s cricket matches with 10 teams. In both of these, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have been given entry in the quarter finals. Whereas other teams will have to play group stage matches.

Now let us talk about the schedule of cricket in the Asian Games. The full schedule of the tournament has not been released yet as the qualifying teams in both the events have not been revealed yet. But from the matches scheduled between India and Pakistan from the quarter final stage, it is clear that if there is a match between India and Pakistan, it will be only for a medal or the two teams will not clash.

There will be competition only for medals

Actually, India has been placed in Quarter Final-1, while Pakistan has been placed in Quarter Final-2. If both the teams win their respective matches then they will reach the semi-finals. But there will be no competition even in the semi-finals because the Indian team will play the winner of Quarter Final-3, while Pakistan will have to face the Quarter Final-4. Now if both the teams win their respective semi-final matches then there will be a competition between them for the gold medal in the final.

If both the teams lose their respective semi-finals then there will be a competition between them for the third place i.e. for the bronze medal. But if either team loses the quarter-finals or both the quarter-finals lose, then there will be no chance to watch the India-Pakistan match. Similarly, if one team reaches the final and the other loses in the semi-final, then there will be no competition between India and Pakistan. The story is the same in both men’s and women’s events. In such a situation, cricket fans will pray that India and Pakistan reach the final.