India and Pakistan will not cross paths in the group stage of the men's cricket tournament at Asian Games 2026. The two sides have been drawn on opposite
halves of the knockout bracket, which means they can meet at most once across the entire event, either in the semi-finals or the final.
The men's tournament is played in T20 format with full international status and gets underway on September 24. India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have been seeded directly into the men's quarter-finals as the four top-ranked teams, skipping the preliminary stage altogether. India's men's squad is led by Shreyas Iyer, with Tilak Varma serving as vice-captain. Teenage batter Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is also included. India go into the tournament as defending champions, having won gold at Hangzhou 2023 when the side was captained by Ruturaj Gaikwad.
How does the men's bracket work and when can India meet Pakistan?
The preliminary stage is split into two groups. Group A features Afghanistan, Japan and Nepal, while Group B comprises Hong Kong China, Malaysia and Oman. The top two finishers from each group advance to the quarter-finals, completing an eight-team knockout draw alongside the four seeded nations.
Because India and Pakistan enter at the quarter-final stage on opposite sides of the draw, neither side can face the other before the semi-finals. Both teams must win their respective quarter-finals to earn a semi-final meeting. Should one or both sides fall short in the semi-finals, the possibility of a final meeting would depend on who advances. At most, India and Pakistan can play each other once in this tournament.
What is the women's cricket schedule at Asian Games 2026?
The women's cricket tournament runs from September 17 to 23. India's women open their campaign against hosts Japan in the quarter-finals. Harmanpreet Kaur led the side to gold at Hangzhou 2023, and India enter as defending champions in the women's event as well.
Should India progress past the quarter-final, their semi-final opponents would be the winner of the Bangladesh versus China quarter-final. On the other side of the women's draw, Sri Lanka take on Malaysia while Pakistan face Thailand in the quarter-finals, so an India versus Pakistan women's encounter is also possible only from the semi-finals onward.
India men's full squad for Asian Games 2026
Shreyas Iyer (captain), Tilak Varma (vice-captain), Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Sanju Samson (WK), Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan (WK), Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah.
