By Bilal Ahmed
India and Pakistan have received direct entry into the quarter-finals for both the men’s and women’s cricket competitions at the upcoming Asian Games. This direct qualification means both teams will bypass the preliminary stages of the tournament.
The men’s cricket competition is scheduled to commence on September 24 and will conclude on October 1. The women’s event will take place from September 17 to 22. All matches for both events will be played in the T20 format at the Korogi Athletic Park in Aichi prefecture.
Men’s Tournament Structure and Key Teams
In the men’s tournament, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka have been directly seeded into the quarter-finals. These four teams are considered the top-ranked sides and will not participate in the initial group stage. The preliminary round will feature six other teams vying for the remaining four quarter-final spots.
The preliminary stage is divided into two groups. Group A includes Afghanistan, Japan, and Nepal, while Group B consists of Hong Kong China, Malaysia, and Oman. The top two teams from each of these groups will advance to the knockout stage, joining the four seeded nations.
Shreyas Iyer will captain the Indian men’s team. The squad also includes Tilak Varma as vice-captain, and other players such as Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, and Jasprit Bumrah. India enters the tournament as defending champions, having won gold at Hangzhou 2023.
Women’s Tournament Details and Potential Clashes
The women’s competition will begin directly at the quarter-final stage. Harmanpreet Kaur will captain the Indian women’s team, which will open its campaign against Japan. India also holds the title of defending champions in the women’s event, having secured gold at Hangzhou 2023.
Other quarter-final matchups in the women’s draw include Bangladesh against China, Sri Lanka facing Malaysia, and Pakistan playing against Thailand. If India progresses past the quarter-finals, their semi-final opponents would be the winner of the match between Bangladesh and China.
The structure of the draw means that India and Pakistan cannot meet in the group stage of the men’s tournament. They have been placed on opposite halves of the knockout bracket, making a potential encounter possible only in the semi-finals or the final. For a semi-final clash, both teams would need to win their respective quarter-final matches. Similarly, in the women’s event, an India versus Pakistan encounter is possible from the semi-finals onward.
Cricket is being featured in the Asian Games for the fourth time. It was previously included in the 2010 Guangzhou, 2014 Incheon, and 2023 Hangzhou Games. At the previous Asian Games in Hangzhou, India won both the men’s and women’s cricket titles. The men’s final against Afghanistan was affected by rain, with India being awarded the gold medal as the higher-seeded team. The Indian women’s team defeated Sri Lanka in their final match.
The Bangladesh men’s team finished fourth at the previous Asian Games after losing to Pakistan in the bronze-medal match. The Bangladesh women’s side also did not secure a medal, losing to Pakistan in the third-place playoff.
The men’s competition features 10 teams in total. The Indian women’s team will open its campaign against Japan.
Source: theprint.in
