The Men's cricket event is a part of the 2026 Asian Games which is being played from 24 September to 3 October 2026 at the Kōrogi Sports Park in Aichi Prefecture, Nisshin, Japan. A total of 10 teams are participating with the matches played in Twenty-20 format.
Participating nations
On 28 April 2025, the organizing committee approved the inclusion of cricket and mixed martial arts to the programme, following a request from OCA. The tournament features 10 nations.
| Mode of Qualification | Date | Hosts | Berths | Qualified teams |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Host country | —N/a | 1 | Japan | |
| ICC Full Members | —N/a | 5 | Afghanistan Bangladesh India Pakistan Sri Lanka | |
| 2026 Asian Games Qualifier | 31 May – 8 June 2026 | Singapore | 4 | Hong Kong Malaysia Nepal Oman |
| Total | 10 | |||
Draw
The seeds were determined based on the ICC Men's T20I Team Rankings as of 23 July 2026, followed by an official draw on the same day to allocate the preliminary stage groups and knockout stage bracket.
Format
The six lowest-seeded teams were placed into two groups of three through an official team draw for the preliminary stage, played in a single round-robin format from September 24 to September 26. The top two teams from each group advance to the quarter-finals, where they join the four highest-seeded teams who received automatic byes based on their ICC rankings.
The knockouts then proceed through the quarter-finals and semi-finals, culminating in the gold medal match played between the semi-final winners, with the semi-final losers competing in the bronze medal match from September 28 to October 3.
Squads
Preliminary stage
The fixtures of the tournament were announced on 26 August 2026 to determine the preliminary stage and the knockout stage fixtures.
Group A
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | T | NR | Pts | NRR | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nepal | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0.842 | Advanced to the knockout stage |
| 2 | Afghanistan | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0.846 | |
| 3 | Japan (H) | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −2.400 | Eliminated |
Match 1
24 September 2026 09:00 Scorecard |
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Mohammad Akram 34 (29)
Shoma Sugaya-Slater 2/18 (3 overs) |
Afghanistan won by 48 runs
Kōrogi Sports Park, Nisshin Umpires: Faisal Afridi (Pak) and Nitin Menon (Ind) |
- Japan won the toss and elected to field.
- Mohammad Akram, Ismat Alam, Faridoon Dawoodzai, Hassan Eisakhil and Arab Gul (Afg) all made their T20I debuts.
Match 3
25 September 2026 14:00 Scorecard |
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Nepal won by 5 wickets
Kōrogi Sports Park, Nisshin Umpires: Viswanadan Kalidas (Mas) and Gazi Sohel (Ban) |
- Afghanistan won the toss and elected to bat.
- Faisal Shinozada (Afg) made his T20I debut.
Match 5
26 September 2026 09:00 Scorecard |
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- Japan won the toss and elected to field.
- The match was reduced to 15 overs per side due to rain.
- No further play was possible due to rain.
- Jake Kusuda-Nairn (Jpn) made his T20I debut.
Group B
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | T | NR | Pts | NRR | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Malaysia | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2.950 | Advanced to the knockout stage |
| 2 | Hong Kong | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | −0.075 | |
| 3 | Oman | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −2.050 | Eliminated |
Match 2
24 September 2026 14:00 Scorecard |
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Malaysia won by 8 wickets
Kōrogi Sports Park, Nisshin Umpires: Prageeth Rambukwella (SL) and Gazi Sohel (Ban) |
- Hong Kong won the toss and elected to bat.
Match 4
25 September 2026 09:00 Scorecard |
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Hafeez Khan 33 (37)
Mohammed Al Balushi 3/17 (4 overs) |
Hong Kong won by 41 runs
Kōrogi Sports Park, Nisshin Umpires: Faisal Afridi (Pak) and Viswanadan Kalidas (Mas) |
- Hong Kong won the toss and elected to bat.
- Waheed Al Balushi (Oma) made his T20I debut.
Match 6
26 September 2026 14:00 Scorecard |
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- No toss.
- No play was possible due to rain.
Knockout stage
Bracket
| Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Gold medal match | ||||||||
| 28 September – Nisshin | ||||||||||
| Hong Kong | ||||||||||
| 1 October – Nisshin | ||||||||||
| Pakistan | ||||||||||
| 29 September – Nisshin | ||||||||||
| Bangladesh | ||||||||||
| 3 October – Nisshin | ||||||||||
| Malaysia | ||||||||||
| 28 September – Nisshin | ||||||||||
| Afghanistan | ||||||||||
| 1 October – Nisshin | ||||||||||
| India | ||||||||||
| 29 September – Nisshin | ||||||||||
| Bronze medal match | ||||||||||
| Nepal | ||||||||||
| 3 October – Nisshin | ||||||||||
| Sri Lanka | ||||||||||