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The official start of the Asian Games 2026 will be from September 19 but the sports competitions will start much earlier. The cricket competition will also start two days before the opening ceremony. Women's cricket matches will be played from September 17, while the medal matches will be held on September 22.

After this there will be men's matches. Men's cricket matches will be held in the Asian Games to be held in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan from September 24. The medal matches will be played on October 3.

All cricket matches in the Asian Games are to be held at Korogi Sports Park in Nishin. That is why the schedules of women's and men's teams have been kept separately. A different approach has also been adopted in making their schedules.

Women's teams will play quarter-finals directly

8 teams are entering the women's competition. Apart from host Japan, women's teams from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, China and Thailand are participating. Women's teams will play the quarter-finals directly. The Indian team, captained by Harmanpreet Kaur, will face Japan in the fourth quarter-final match on September 17.

There will be preliminary rounds in the men's competition. Afghanistan, Japan, Nepal, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Oman will have to play the preliminary rounds. These 6 teams have been divided into two groups. Japan, Afghanistan and Nepal are in Group-A. Whereas Hong Kong, Malaysia and Oman are in Group-B. These teams will play one match against each other in round robin format in their respective groups and the top-2 teams from each group will reach the quarter-finals.

The men's teams of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh will play the quarter-finals directly. This is because these 4 teams have been given better seeding. Under the captaincy of Shreyas Iyer, the Indian team will start its campaign with the second quarter-final on September 28.

What is the history of cricket in Asian Games?

Cricket was first included in the Asian Games in 2010. Then in 2014 also, cricket was kept as a medal sport. Although those tournaments did not have international status. In 2010, Bangladesh won gold, while Afghanistan had to settle for silver. Pakistan got bronze. After this, Sri Lanka won the gold medal in 2014. Afghanistan once again got silver. Bangladesh won bronze.

Cricket will return in 2023 after being dropped from the schedule in 2018. This time all the matches were recognized as international matches by the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) also sent its men's and women's teams. Both men's and women's teams of India created history by winning gold.

Women's cricket schedule in Asian Games:

Men's cricket schedule at the Asian Games: