India’s Asian Games men’s cricket semifinal opponent will be decided by Tuesday’s Nepal-Sri Lanka quarterfinal.

India advanced to the semifinals after their own quarterfinal against Afghanistan was rained off.

The match was abandoned 16 minutes before the scheduled toss due to persistent rain.

India went through based on higher ICC T20I team rankings.

The semifinal is scheduled for Thursday.

India will next face the winner of the quarterfinal between Nepal and Sri Lanka in Thursday’s second semifinal.

India’s men’s cricket team entered the tournament at the quarterfinal stage as defending champions.

Afghanistan had reached these Asian Games as the silver medallists from the 2023 Hangzhou Games.

Weather has been a recurring factor across multiple sports at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games this week.

India’s women’s cricket team had already won gold at these Games, beating Sri Lanka in the final earlier in the week.

Rain-affected results in multi-sport Games cricket events are typically decided using pre-set tie-break rules rather than a reserve day, given tight scheduling.

The Asian Games 2026 are being held in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, from September 19 to October 4.

India has continued to add medals across multiple sports at these Games, including hockey, shooting and squash.

The men’s cricket competition at the Asian Games uses a knockout format from the quarterfinal stage onward.

Reserve days are not always built into multi-sport Games cricket schedules given the number of other events sharing venues and dates.

Team seedings for tie-break purposes are typically fixed before the tournament begins, based on rankings at that time.

India’s men’s team includes a mix of experienced internationals and emerging players for this year’s Asian Games squad.

Cricket has featured at the Asian Games since 2010, with both men’s and women’s competitions now part of the programme.

The Aichi-Nagoya Games venue has hosted several cricket matches across the men’s and women’s competitions this year.

Cricket action (representative image), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Richa Ghosh scored an unbeaten 49 off 22 balls to help India post 216 for 3 in the Asian Games cricket final on September 22.

It is the highest total in Asian Games women’s cricket history.

Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma had earlier added 99 for the first wicket.

India went on to bowl Sri Lanka out for 69, winning the match by 147 runs.

The win gave India back-to-back Asian Games cricket gold medals.

Sri Lanka were bowled out for 69 in reply, struggling against India’s spin attack.

Deepti Sharma took 3 for 6, while Shafali Verma and Shree Charani each took two wickets.

During her innings, Smriti Mandhana became the first woman cricketer to reach 11,000 international runs, needing just 13 runs at the start of the match to reach the landmark.

Mandhana’s overall tally at 11,000 runs comprises 788 Test runs, 5,411 ODI runs and 4,788 T20I runs.

It is India’s second consecutive Asian Games gold in women’s cricket, following their first title at the 2023 Hangzhou Games, also against Sri Lanka.

India’s captain Harmanpreet Kaur lifted the trophy after the win.

The win came a day after India reached the final on the back of Shafali Verma’s unbeaten century in the semifinal against Bangladesh.

Sri Lanka had reached the final by beating Pakistan by eight wickets in their semifinal.

The Asian Games 2026 are being held in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, running from September 19 to October 4.

India has continued to add medals in other sports at the Games, including in shooting, hockey and weightlifting.

India Women beat Sri Lanka Women by 147 runs in the Asian Games 2026 cricket gold medal match at Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin on September 22.

Batting first, India posted 216 for 3, the highest total in Asian Games women’s cricket history.

Indians celebrating a cricket win (representative image), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

Shafali Verma’s unbeaten 100 off 49 balls in the semifinal set up India’s place in the Asian Games cricket final against Sri Lanka.

It was her first century in Women’s T20 Internationals.

India beat Bangladesh by 114 runs in that semifinal.

The final against Sri Lanka began at 10:30 am IST on September 22.

India are the defending champions in the event.

India are the defending champions, having beaten Sri Lanka to win their first Asian Games cricket gold at the 2023 Hangzhou Games.

India’s squad is led by Harmanpreet Kaur and includes Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma and Richa Ghosh.

The winner of the match takes the gold medal, with the loser settling for silver.

India’s route to the final included an eight-wicket win over Japan in the quarterfinal, where they chased 58 in five overs.

The Asian Games 2026 are being held in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, from September 19 to October 4.

India has already won medals in other sports at these Games, including silvers in shooting and a bronze in mixed martial arts.

Weather was flagged as a possible factor for the final, given the wider spell of rain and thunderstorms forecast across parts of India and the region this week.

The match is being shown on the Sony Sports Network and streamed on SonyLIV.

A win for India would make it back-to-back Asian Games gold medals in women’s cricket.

A win for Sri Lanka would be their first Asian Games gold in the sport.

The final follows a group and knockout format used across the Asian Games cricket competition.

The gold medal match between India Women and Sri Lanka Women began at 10:30 am IST on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, at the Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin.

India reached the final after a 114-run win over Bangladesh in the semifinal, powered by Shafali Verma’s unbeaten 100 off 49 balls.

Cricket stadium (representative image), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0