Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka Get Direct Entry into Quarter-Finals

The men’s cricket teams of Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka have secured direct entry into the knockout stages of the 2026 Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan.

The draws for both the men's and women's T20 tournaments were announced on Thursday. The men's competition, running from September 24 to October 1, will feature 10 teams. While the four South Asian heavyweights advance directly to the quarter-finals and six other nations will battle in the opening round. Group A includes Afghanistan, Japan and Nepal while Group B consists of Hong Kong, Malaysia and Oman. The top two teams from each group will join the direct qualifiers in the knockouts.

Meanwhile the women’s tournament features eight teams and will kick off straight from the quarter-finals will running from September 17 to 22. The opening knockout fixtures will see Bangladesh take on China, India face Japan, Sri Lanka play Malaysia and Pakistan clash with Thailand.

All matches for both tournaments will be played in the standard T20 format.

In the previous 2023 Asian Games India swept both cricket gold medals. The Indian men claimed gold as the higher-seeded team after their final against Afghanistan was abandoned due to rain and the women’s team secured their title by defeating Sri Lanka by 19 runs.