The tournament structure for the Asian Games 2026 has been officially confirmed, with the men's and women's cricket competitions set to take place in Nagoya, Japan. The event will utilize the T20 format, with the women's tournament scheduled from September 17 to 22, followed by the men's competition from September 24 to October 1.
The draws and groups of the Asian Games were announced on Thursday for both the men's and the women's tournaments. For the men's event, which features ten teams in contention, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka have secured direct entry into the knockout stages. The remaining six teams—Afghanistan, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, and Oman—will compete in an opening round to determine who joins the top four. These six teams are divided into two groups: Group A consists of Afghanistan, Japan, and Nepal, while Group B includes Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Oman. The top two sides from each group will advance to the knockouts.
The women's tournament will feature eight teams and begin directly with the quarter-final fixtures. The scheduled matchups are India versus Japan, Bangladesh versus China, Sri Lanka versus Malaysia, and Pakistan versus Thailand.
These upcoming games follow the 2023 edition, where India claimed gold medals in both the men's and women's tournaments. In the 2023 men's final, India was awarded the gold medal as the higher-seeded team after the match against Afghanistan was washed out following 18.2 overs of play. In the women's final of the same year, India secured the title by defeating Sri Lanka by 19 runs.
China WomenMalaysia WomenThailand WomenBangladesh WomenSri Lanka WomenPakistan WomenJapan WomenIndia WomenAfghanistanOmanNepalJapanBangladeshHong KongMalaysiaSri LankaPakistanIndia
