In an unrelenting cricket calendar where monotony can set in over run-of-the-mill bilateral assignments, a multi-disciplinary event like the Asian Games holds the promise of a novel offering.

The competition provides a unique opportunity for India’s high-profile cricketers to mingle with athletes from other sports whilst attempting to win gold for the nation. Shreyas Iyer & Co. will be looking to do just that when they travel to Japan for the continental spectacle’s T20 tournament from September 24 to October 3.

This will be the Indian cricket team’s second appearance at the Asian Games, having pocketed gold in Hangzhou, China, in 2023.

This will be the Indian cricket team’s second appearance at the Asian Games, having pocketed gold in Hangzhou, China, in 2023.
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PTI

Sunil Gavaskar hopes the Men in Blue savour the experience of a multi-sport carnival. “You get to know and talk to athletes from other sports, and get to know what makes them tick. It will be a wonderful experience,” he said during a virtual media interaction.

Though reports have emerged of the arrangements in Japan for the cricketers not being up to scratch, Gavaskar emphasised that such obstacles shouldn’t dissuade the game’s stakeholders from exploring newer markets.

“If cricket has to become a global sport, it has to be played in different parts of the world. At the Olympics, for example, you could play in a city where cricket isn’t generally played. You might not always get the best facilities,” the 77-year-old opined. “For the game to grow, I would encourage them to play wherever possible.”

If cricket is to pique the curiosity of spectators at the Asian Games, the boy wonder that is Vaibhav Sooryavanshi will have to show up. The spunky 15-year-old, who cracked two half-centuries against Zimbabwe after a baptism by fire against England, will hope to continue his upward flight.

“Look in T20 cricket, you can’t expect consistency. Vaibhav is the kind of batter who can win you three or four out of 10 games. But he’s somebody with whom we need to have patience,” assessed Gavaskar.

(Watch cricket at Asian Games 2026 on Sony Sports and Sony LIV from September 17).

India lived up to its billing of being the number one side in Twenty20 Internationals (T20I). The Men in Blue retained the ICC T20 World Cup with an emphatic 96-run triumph over New Zealand in the final at Ahmedabad on Sunday. Often in global sporting tournaments, the more fancied athlete or squad may fail at times as the law of averages catches up; it is to the credit of Suryakumar Yadav’s men that they remained consistent and lasted the distance. Having won the title in 2024 under the leadership of Rohit Sharma, this Indian unit has evolved further. There has been a change in personnel too, as Rohit, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja retired from cricket’s shortest format. Their massive shoes were filled, and with coach Gautam Gambhir propagating a high-risk, high-yield philosophy, the players followed their mentor’s approach and prospered. Including the summit clash, India went past 250 thrice in the championship. The think-tank was also flexible as an initial top-order vulnerability was addressed in time. With three left-handers atop the batting tree, the Indians found rival captains employing off-spinners to counter the batters. Abhishek Sharma losing form also proved to be a complication but by picking the right-handed Sanju Samson as opener, balance was found.

Great teams find ways to cope with challenges, and India, even after losing a Super Eight game to South Africa, stayed afloat. The management persisted with Abhishek and he scored two fifties in the campaign, with the one in the final being vital. Samson, though, was a revelation. Always rated high, at varying points in his career he was competing with M.S. Dhoni, Dinesh Karthik and Rishabh Pant for the wicket-keeper batter role. With 321 runs in this championship and three consecutive 50-plus scores in the last stretch for India, the ‘Player of the Tournament’ ensured that the host fulfilled expectations. If Samson led India’s batting charts, the incisive Jasprit Bumrah and spinner Varun Chakaravarthy finished with 14 wickets apiece and held the top spot in this World Cup. Bumrah was terrific while Varun found it rough towards the business end of the campaign as batters turned aggressive against him. India found heroes at critical points, be it Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube or Axar Patel. Among the rest, New Zealand proved why it remains one of the most resilient teams, sailing into another final before running into India. That outfits such as Nepal had their moments is also a pointer to how T20Is are helping cricket broaden its base.