The four highest seeded Asian teams have been drawn into the knockout round of the men’s cricket competition of the 2026 Asian Games in Japan.
India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have advanced to the Asian Games men’s cricket tournament quarterfinals, which is scheduled to take place in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan in 2026.
The four seeded countries will not play in the qualifying round and will start their competition in the knockout phase. They will be accompanied by four teams who will progress from the preliminary phase.
Four teams earn direct knockout qualification
The tournament organizers have announced that India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh will be directly seeded in the quarter final of the tournament.
The format will allow the top cricketing power in Asia to claim the knockout spot and will also give the emerging teams an opportunity to battle it out for the remaining knockout places in the qualifying round of the tournament.
All four teams will try to get a good start in order to secure a podium spot.
Qualifying round features six teams
The remaining 4 spots in the quarter finals will be decided by a 6-nation match.
Group A consists of:
- Afghanistan
- Japan
- Nepal
Group B includes:
- Malaysia
- Oman
- Hong Kong, China
The top two teams of each group will move on to the quarters to play the other two teams in their group.
The runners-up of the previous Asian Games, Afghanistan, are leading the way in the qualifying round and are one of the top contenders to qualify.
India begin title defence
Defending gold medalists in the men’s event are India who won the gold medal in the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.
The three teams (Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh) will also be in the knockout stage, having qualified directly.
Men’s cricket schedule confirmed
The Asian Games 2026 Men’s Cricket tournament will be played on 24th September to 1st October 2026.
Asia’s top cricketing powers are already in the tournament’s quarter-finals and with a number of emerging teams fighting it out in the qualifying round, it’s going to be an interesting tournament that will see teams vie for the Asian Games gold.
