India begin their Asian Games 2026 men's cricket campaign on Monday, September 28, when defending champions India take on Afghanistan in the quarter-final at Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin, Japan. The match is scheduled to start at 10:00 AM IST (1:30 PM local time).
India entered the tournament directly at the quarter-final stage as one of the seeded teams, while Afghanistan progressed from Group A after finishing second behind Nepal. Afghanistan defeated Japan but suffered a five-wicket defeat against Nepal, while the final Nepal-Japan group game was washed out.
India vs Afghanistan: What To Expect
Shreyas Iyer will lead a strong Indian squad featuring established international names including Jasprit Bumrah, Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Tilak Varma, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar
and Arshdeep Singh. India also have the option of handing teenage batting sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi a role in the playing XI.
Afghanistan, meanwhile, will be captained by Darwish Rasooli. This is not the same Afghanistan side India recently faced in the bilateral T20I series, with several prominent names absent from the Asian Games squad. The Afghan side will therefore present a different challenge, particularly if the surface offers assistance to their spinners.
India's preparation has already been disrupted by rain. Their only recent match practice came in a rain-reduced five-over game against Japan, which India won by two runs.
Nisshin Weather Forecast for September 28
Weather could once again become the biggest talking point. The India Meteorological Department forecast for Nisshin puts Monday's temperature at around 21.4°C minimum and 29.9°C maximum, with partly cloudy conditions and the possibility of light rain or a thunderstorm.
Other forecasts are considerably wetter, with AccuWeather indicating a 91% chance of rain and 22% chance of thunderstorms during Monday daytime.
What If India vs Afghanistan Is Washed Out?
If rain interrupts play but enough cricket is possible, officials can reduce the number of overs and use the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) method to determine a revised target.
However, if the quarter-final is completely abandoned without a result, India will progress to the semi-finals because they are the higher-seeded team. The tournament regulations use the higher-ranked/seeded side as the basis for advancement in such a knockout washout scenario.
That would mean Afghanistan's campaign would end without India having to complete the quarter-final on the field. India could therefore reach the semi-finals even if persistent rain prevents a ball from being bowled - a scenario that would echo the 2023 Asian Games final, when rain washed out the India-Afghanistan gold-medal match and India took the title as the higher-ranked side.
