Pakistan and India have secured direct qualification for the knockout stage of the men’s cricket competition at the Asian Games 2026, alongside Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, following the official draw announced on Thursday.
The men’s tournament will feature 10 teams, while eight teams will compete in the women’s event.
The men’s competition, scheduled from September 24 to October 1 in Nagoya, Japan, will begin with a preliminary round. Group A consists of Afghanistan, Japan and Nepal, while Group B includes Hong Kong, Malaysia and Oman.
The top two teams from each group will advance to the knockout stage, where they will join Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
The women’s tournament will be held from September 17 to 22, starting directly with the quarter-finals. Pakistan will face Thailand, India will take on Japan, Bangladesh will meet China, and Sri Lanka will play Malaysia.
All matches in both the men’s and women’s competitions will be played in the T20 format in Nagoya.
India will enter the tournament as the defending champions in both categories after winning gold medals at the 2023 Asian Games. In the men’s event, India were awarded the title after the rain-affected final against Afghanistan, while the Indian women’s team defeated Sri Lanka by 19 runs to clinch the gold medal.
It is important to mention here that the International Cricket Council (ICC) earlier revealed a new plan for the ODI World Cup 2027, which is to be played in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia.
In this new setup, there’s a chance of multiple India-Pakistan match and it is believed to be the biggest and most popular game in the cricket world.
The ICC has revealed that the 2027 World Cup will be a different format, with 14 teams taking part in the event.
The new method will have the three lowest ranked teams from the 14 qualified teams go into the preliminary round, with only the top one advancing to the next round.
After that, the main stage will consist of 12 teams, which will be divided into two groups, with six teams in each group.
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