Alan Curr remembers V.V.S. Laxman’s 281.

He was at university when Laxman played one of Test cricket’s greatest innings against Australia at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata in 2001. Twenty-five years later, Curr, now Chief Operating Officer of the Japan Cricket Association (JCA), found himself on the phone with Laxman, only this time the Indian legend was asking the questions.

Laxman, now coach of the Indian men’s team travelling to the Games, wanted to know what to expect in Japan.

“Certainly in the two or three minutes leading up to the call, you’re like, wow, I saw this guy play a lot of cricket,” Curr tells Sportstar.

The call lasted only a few minutes, but it neatly captured Japan’s changing place in the cricket world. India was no longer simply a team Curr watched from afar. It was now a team Japan had to prepare to host.

India Women begin their Asian Games campaign against the host on September 18 at Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin.

India’s players are full-time professionals with contracts and endorsements; Japan’s women remain amateur and failed to qualify for the 2022 Asian Games tournament. Yet Japan is embracing the occasion rather than fearing it.

“It is incredibly exciting, I have waited a decade to play in the Asian Games, so finally being able to compete on home soil is something special,” says captain Mai Yanagida.

The fixture has reshaped expectations for the JCA. India’s visit has driven ticket demand the federation has never recorded, forcing it to plan for security, crowds and media.

“For years, our biggest problem was finding players to come and play matches… Whereas when you’ve got India coming, then the tickets sold out in about — it felt like about 20 minutes,” Curr says.

The stakes go beyond one result. When Japan’s men made their Asian Games debut in Hangzhou three years ago and beat Cambodia, it became national news, with highlights on major television channels — cricket briefly gaining an Olympics-style ripple.

For the women, though, cricket is still a second career squeezed around work and study. Japan has only 14 clubs, and players juggle the sport with jobs, teaching or university.

“We are not full-time professional cricketers… It definitely requires a lot of personal sacrifices,” Yanagida says.

Kurumi Ota, a systems engineer at Hitachi, knows that cost. She stepped away from the sport for seven years because of work before returning.

“When I first started playing cricket, we would sometimes practise under overpasses… Today there are international-standard grounds and grass outfields,” she says.

The JCA now has a 20-year vision to grow not just players but coaches, commentators and curators.

On September 18, Japan gets its biggest cricketing stage yet.

“I mean how often do you get to say you had V.V.S Laxman talk to you about cricket,” Curr says.

Kolkata Knight Riders’ commendable bowling effort, followed by Manish Pandey and Rovman Powell’s useful knocks, helped the three-time champion post a four-wicket win over Mumbai Indians in an IPL 2026 match at the Eden Gardens on Wednesday (May 20, 2026). The victory helped KKR stay alive in the race for a playoff berth.

After Ajinkya Rahane chose to field, Cameron Green, Saurabh Dubey, and Kartik Tyagi took two wickets each while Sunil Narine stemmed the run flow as KKR’s disciplined bowling restricted MI to 147 for eight. The home team achieved the target with seven balls to spare.

KKR bowlers delivered their best PowerPlay (46 for four) of the season. Green struck twice in his first over, removing Ryan Rickelton to a fine Pandey catch and having Naman Dhir caught behind. Left-arm seamer Saurabh then dismissed Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav in consecutive overs. Rohit’s mistimed shot was spectacularly caught by Green after a 33-yard run from mid-on while Suryakumar dragged one onto his stumps.

Following an hour-long rain interruption, KKR spinners took control. The crafty Narine dished out his variety, while Varun Chakaravarthy, nursing a foot injury, bowled tidily.

Tilak Varma survived on 12 when Varun dropped a return catch. The left-hander fell soon after, pulling Tyagi to backward square-leg.

Narine bowled Hardik Pandya before Corbin Bosch’s unbeaten 32 in the death overs lent respectability to MI’s total.

In reply, KKR lost Finn Allen in the first over before Rahane and Pandey added 38 runs. But, Bosch executed his plans well to account for Rahane and Green in successive overs.

Batting for the first time in the season in his fifth outing, Pandey (45), applied himself on a tricky surface and batted sensibly.

The 36-year-old collected boundaries through straight hits and square-cuts, and forged a vital 64-run stand with Powell, who picked his areas to play the big hits.

The fall of Pandey and Powell in successive overs put KKR in a spot of bother before Rinku Singh hung on to ensure the host’s victory past midnight.