Asian Games 2026: Who Can Shreyas Iyer-Led Team India Face In Quarter-Final? Full Men's Cricket Bracket Explained

India’s men’s cricket team will begin their Asian Games 2026 campaign directly in the quarter-finals as Shreyas Iyer-led side looks to defend the gold medal won at the 2023 Hangzhou Games. The men’s cricket competition is being played in the T20 format in Japan, with India among the four teams to receive direct entry into the knockout stage based on their continental T20I ranking.

India will play their quarter-final on September 28 at 10:30 AM IST at Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin, Aichi. The Men in Blue will face the team that finishes second in Group A of the preliminary round. Afghanistan, Japan and Nepal are competing in Group A, with the top two sides progressing to the quarter-finals.

The preliminary round features six teams divided into two groups. Group B consists of Hong Kong, Malaysia and Oman, while Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have also secured direct quarter-final berths alongside India. The quarter-final line-up will see Pakistan face the second-placed team from Group B, while Bangladesh and Sri Lanka will face the other group winners.

India’s men’s squad is led by Shreyas Iyer and includes Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, Shivam Dube, Tilak Varma, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, among others. The team will be aiming to retain the title after India won the men’s cricket gold at the 2023 Asian Games.

The semi-finals are scheduled for October 1, followed by the bronze medal match and gold medal match on October 3. If India progress through the knockout stages, they could potentially face one of the other seeded teams in the latter stages of the competition. The exact quarter-final opponent will be confirmed after the Group A matches conclude on September 26.