The 2026 Asian Games are all set to begin from 17th September to 3rd October in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, with 43 different types of sports. Cricket in the Asian Games will make its fourth-ever appearance. Cricket first made its debut in the Asian Games in 2010 in China. The first matches were played at Guangzhou, featuring T20 format tournaments for both men’s and women’s teams.
Then, in 2014 at Incheon, cricket made its second appearance in the Asian Games, followed by its third appearance at Hangzhou 2022. The fourth appearance will be at the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games, and the squads for the Indian national cricket team, representing both the men’s and women’s teams, were announced on Tuesday, 30th June 2026, by the BCCI.
2026 Asian Games: 15 – Players’ Squad of the Indian Cricket National Team, Men’s and Women’s
Indian Men’s Full Squad: Shreyas Iyer (Captain), Tilak Varma (Vice-Captain), Shivam Dube, Ishan Kishan (Wicketkeeper), Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Sanju Samson (Wicketkeeper), Abhishek Sharma, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana.
India Women’s Full Squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (Captain), Smriti Mandhana (Vice-Captain), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (Wicketkeeper), G. Kamalini (Wicketkeeper), Bharti Fulmali, Sree Charani, Renuka Singh, Kranti Goud, Arundhati Reddy, Radha Yadav, Nandini Sharma, Shreyanka Patil.
2026 Asian Games: Men’s Squad Analysis
Newly appointed Shreyas Iyer, the captain of the Indian men’s national team for the T20I format, will lead the Indian men’s side in the 2026 Asian Games. After a dull start to his captaincy career at Belfast, Ireland, where Team India suffered a 2-0 clean sweep defeat, challenges will be there for Shreyas Iyer in the 2026 Asian Games after an unexpected loss in the recent T20I series. But his heroics in the IPL are legendary, and hopefully, he will lead the Indian side with good leadership.
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Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, the 15-year-old star who just performed in blistering form in the IPL 2026 and made his debut in the T20I format against Ireland, didn’t get the chance to play a match. But his recent performance in List A was explosive, with his 11-ball fifty against Sri Lanka in the Tri-Nation Series. In the final match at Dambulla, Sooryavanshi smashed a 94(29) knock, including 10 fours and 8 sixes. Vaibhav reached a milestone and broke Kaushalya Weeraratne’s record of the fastest List A fifty, which came in 12 balls.
The Indian men’s side is playing with 4 batters: Shreyas Iyer (C), Tilak Varma (VC), Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, and Abhishek Sharma. 2 wicketkeepers: Ishan Kishan and Sanju Samson. 4 all-rounders: Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, and Nitish Kumar Reddy. 5 bowlers: Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, and Ravi Bishnoi.
2026 Asian Games: Women’s Squad Analysis
Harmanpreet Kaur will be leading the Indian women’s national cricket team in the 2026 Asian Games. In the recent ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026, IND-W displayed a disappointing performance, not even qualifying for the Super 4s semi-finals, and losing the important match against AUS-W on 28th June 2026, which was a must-win game for the Indian side to qualify.
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As AUS-W were in dominating form throughout the tournament, in the must-win game, batting first, India Women posted 170/4, and captain Harmanpreet Kaur scored a valuable 56(27), leading the side to a good fighting total. But in the second innings, failure to strike wickets in the middle overs and not being able to break the partnership of Ellyse Perry and Ashleigh Gardner took the match away from IND-W.
Many positives were taken from the T20 World Cup 2026, like Deepti Sharma’s highest wicket-taking record, Sree Charani’s spin making it difficult to score runs, and India Women did a great job in the spin department. One major concern for IND-W was Shreyanka Patil’s injury and Yastika Bhatia’s poor performance. G. Kamalini, a 17-year-old wicketkeeper-batter, made her spot in the 15-player squad for the 2026 Asian Games, replacing Yastika Bhatia.
The Indian women’s side is playing with 6 batters: Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Smriti Mandhana (VC), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Bharti Fulmali, and Nandini Sharma. 2 wicketkeepers: Richa Ghosh and G. Kamalini. 3 all-rounders: Deepti Sharma, Arundhati Reddy, and Shreyanka Patil. 4 bowlers: Sree Charani, Renuka Singh, Kranti Goud, and Radha Yadav.
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