India vs Pakistan at Asian Games: Possible or not?

Though the women's cricket competition at the Asian Games has concluded, attention has now shifted to the men's tournament, where teams will battle for the coveted gold medal.

The preliminary round of the men's cricket competition is currently underway, featuring six teams: Japan, Afghanistan, Hong Kong, Nepal, Malaysia, and Oman. The teams have been divided into two groups of three. Group A consists of Afghanistan, Nepal, and Japan, while Group B comprises Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Oman. The tournament is being played in the T20 format.

The top two teams from each group will advance to the quarterfinals. India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh received direct entry into the quarterfinal stage as the highest-seeded teams.

Pakistan will be in action in Quarterfinal 1 on September 28, while their arch-rivals India are scheduled to play Quarterfinal 2 on the same day. Sri Lanka and Bangladesh will feature in Quarterfinals 3 and 4, respectively.

According to the knockout bracket, the winner of Quarterfinal 1 will face the winner of Quarterfinal 4 in the semifinals, while the winner of Quarterfinal 2 will take on the winner of Quarterfinal 3. Therefore, barring any upsets, Pakistan are likely to meet Bangladesh in the semifinals, while India could face Sri Lanka.

If both India and Pakistan win their respective semifinal matches, fans will be treated to a blockbuster showdown in the gold-medal match on October 3. However, if both sides lose their semifinals, they could instead square off in the bronze-medal playoff on the same day.

India squad for Asian Games 2026:

Shreyas Iyer (Captain), Tilak Varma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Abhishek Sharma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Vipraj Nigam, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Yash Thakur.

Pakistan squad for Asian Games 2026:

Sahibzada Farhan (Captain), Abdul Samad, Haider Ali, Hasan Nawaz, Maaz Sadaqat, Saad Masood, Saim Ayub, Usman Khan, Abrar Ahmed, Ahmed Daniyal, Akif Javed, Ali Raza, Arafat Minhas, Sufyan Moqim, Mohammad Wasim Jr.