India vs Afghanistan | India advanced to the semi-finals of the Asian Games 2026 men’s cricket tournament after their quarterfinal against Afghanistan was abandoned without a ball being bowled due to rain on Monday.
The second quarterfinal was scheduled at the Aichi Prefectural Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin, Japan. Persistent rain prevented any play, eventually forcing officials to call off the match.
India entered the knockout stage as the higher-ranked side and therefore progressed to the next round after the washout. The tournament rules provide an advantage to the higher-seeded team if a knockout match is completely abandoned without play.
India vs Afghanistan | India Advance Without Facing a Ball
The result means India have moved into the Asian Games semi-finals without batting or bowling in their quarterfinal.
India are the defending Asian Games men’s cricket champions. They won the gold medal at the 2022 Hangzhou Games after the final against Afghanistan was also affected by rain.
Captain Shreyas Iyer leads India’s 2026 Asian Games squad, which includes several established T20 players such as Jasprit Bumrah, Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Tilak Varma, Arshdeep Singh and Axar Patel. Fifteen-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is also part of the squad.
India had also recently beaten Afghanistan 3-0 in a bilateral T20I series in New Delhi, adding context to Monday’s quarterfinal. Afghanistan entered the Asian Games with a relatively inexperienced squad led by Darwish Rasooli.
The semi-finals of the men’s cricket tournament are scheduled for October 1. The bronze-medal match and final will be played on October 3.
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