Bibhash Lodh, BS News Agency: India won its first gold in women's cricket at the 2026 Aichi Nagoya Asian Games thanks to Harmanpreet. It is better to say that it retained the gold it won at the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games. Now let's see if the Indian men's cricket team can retain the Asian Games title in 2023 and win gold in Aichi Nagoya? Without belittling the achievements of the women's cricket team, it has to be said that Shreyas Iyer's challenge in men's cricket is somewhat difficult. The Indian men's cricket team's gold-winning campaign will begin on Monday. Shreyas will face Afghanistan in the quarterfinals. Nepal will face Sri Lanka in the other quarterfinals after defeating Afghanistan in Group A to top the table.
India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have directly qualified for the quarterfinals in the ongoing Asian Games. However, among these 4 teams, India and Bangladesh have come with full-strength teams. Naturally, in that case, it can be said that Shreyas Iyer's India is one of the contenders for winning the gold. India won gold in the last Asian Games under the leadership of Ruturaj Gaekwad. It should be remembered that it was with a second-rate team. But this time India did not want to take any risks. Initially, BCCI officials were hesitant to send a first-rate team due to dissatisfaction with various facilities including hotels in Aichi Nagoya. But keeping in mind the goal of winning gold, they sent a full-strength team.
Shreyas Iyer is supported by renowned cricketers like Tilak Verma, Jasprit Bumrah, Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Vaibhav Suryavanshi. Although the Pakistan cricket team has come to play under the leadership of Sahibzada Farhan, Babar Azam, Shaheen Shah Afridi, and Haris Rauf are not in the team.
The gold-winning match, i.e. the final, will be held on Saturday, October 3. The bronze medal match will also be held on the same day. India and Pakistan could face each other in the gold medal final or the bronze medal match. The way the schedule is structured, it is unlikely that India and Pakistan will meet in the semi-finals.
Quarterfinal Lineup
Pakistan: Hong Kong (Monday, September 28, 5:30 AM)
India: Afghanistan (Monday, September 28, 10 AM)
Sri Lanka: Nepal (Tuesday, September 29, 5:30 AM)
Bangladesh: Malaysia (Tuesday, September 29, 10 AM)
Indian team: Shreyas Iyer, Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, Shivam Dubey, Tilak Verma, Vipraj Nigam, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Vaibhav Suryavanshi.