Asian Games 2026: With the Indian men’s cricket team set to defend its gold medal at the upcoming Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, the timings of their matches have been brought forward by 30 minutes.
The change has not yet been formally communicated to all stakeholders. In fact, officials of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) said they were not aware of the revised timings. However, the updated schedule is already reflected on the official Asian Games website.
So, what is behind the change in timings for India’s men’s matches?
According to sources cited by Cricbuzz, the decision has been taken primarily because of the early sunset in Japan. The cricket venue does not have floodlights, and with men’s T20 matches likely to run longer than the morning fixtures, the stakeholders felt it would be better to start the games earlier and make maximum use of natural light.
As a result, India’s men’s matches that were originally scheduled to begin at 2:00 PM local time will now start at 1:30 PM. The revised timing means the matches will begin at 10:00 AM IST, with Japan being three hours and 30 minutes ahead of India.
The start time for the morning matches remains unchanged. Those fixtures are scheduled to begin at 9:00 AM local time, or 5:30 AM IST.
No change for preliminary-round matches
There are no changes to the timings of the preliminary-round matches involving teams such as Afghanistan, Japan, Nepal, Hong Kong (China), Malaysia and Oman.
The schedule for the Indian women’s cricket team also remains unchanged. Their matches will continue to start at 9:00 AM local time, or 5:30 AM IST.
India’s men’s team has received a direct entry into the quarter-finals and will begin its Asian Games campaign on September 28. The second semi-final is scheduled for October 1, while the gold-medal match is set to take place on October 3, should India progress that far.
Matches involving Pakistan, who are scheduled to feature in the first semi-final and potentially the bronze-medal match, will begin at 9:00 AM local time.
India’s Japan T20I remains unchanged
The timing change for the Asian Games does not affect India’s historic one-off T20I against Japan.
India are scheduled to face Japan in a first-ever T20I between the two sides on September 22 at the Sano International Stadium. The match is slated to begin at 9:30 AM IST, or 1:00 PM local time.
India’s men’s squad for Asian Games 2026
India will be led by Shreyas Iyer, with Tilak Varma named vice-captain. The squad includes a mix of established international players and young talent.
Squad: Shreyas Iyer (C), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (WK), Ishan Kishan (WK), Shivam Dube, Tilak Varma (VC), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Yash Thakur.
