Asian Games, cricket returns to the programme with India and Pakistan already in the quarter-finals

Cricket returns to the programme of the 2026 Asian Games, scheduled in Aichi, Japan, from September 17 to October 3. According to the event’s organising committee, AINAGOC, India and Pakistan, defending champions in the discipline, have secured direct access to the quarter-finals in both the men’s and women’s tournaments, bypassing the group stage that will instead involve the other participating national teams.

The tournament format, with the two countries already qualified for the knockout stage, opens up the possibility of a clash between the two national teams at an advanced stage of the competition. According to reports, a direct India-Pakistan encounter is conceivable in the semi-finals of the men’s tournament and, potentially, even in the final of the women’s tournament.

It should be noted that the information on the bracket and on direct access to the quarter-finals currently comes from a single source, the statement from the Asian Games organising committee, with no independent confirmation available in the excerpts at hand.

The presence of cricket in the Asian Games programme confirms the weight the discipline retains across the Asian continent, with a competitive format that favours the two nations with the greatest tradition in the game. The fact that both the men’s and women’s tournaments provide the same treatment for India and Pakistan — direct access to the quarter-finals without going through the group stage — reflects the organisers’ assessment of the two teams’ current level relative to the rest of the field.

The schedule set by AINAGOC places the entire tournament within a span of just over two weeks, from September 17 to October 3, a timeframe that includes both the group stage for teams not directly qualified and the entire knockout path through to the men’s and women’s finals.