Cricket powerhouses India and Pakistan booked their places in the Asian Games semifinals on Monday without stepping onto the field, as persistent rain forced officials to cancel two quarterfinal matches. Defending champion India advanced past Afghanistan, while Pakistan progressed against Hong Kong based on tournament seeding and world rankings. So hard luck for us, the rain started yesterday.
India’s squad, led by Shreyas Iyer and featuring fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah alongside 15-year-old batting standout Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, has yet to play an official match in the tournament, though they secured a friendly warmup victory over Japan the previous week. India enters as a back-to-back Twenty20 World Cup champion and the home of cricket’s most lucrative league. The Asian Games utilizes the T20 format, which is also scheduled for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. We are here for the match but unfortunately it rained.
Pakistan secured their progression first against Hong Kong under regulations ensuring the higher-seeded team advances when matches are washed out. Hours later, continuing wet weather ended any possibility of play in India’s fixture against Afghanistan, resulting in the same outcome. The cancellation prevented fans at Korogi Athletic Park from watching Sooryavanshi, the fearless teenager who led the T20 Indian Premier League batting standings earlier in the year.
Afghanistan team representative Mohammad expressed disappointment over the weather-induced cancellation, noting that his squad had prepared extensively and understood the venue’s conditions well after playing two prior matches there. Weather permitting, the remaining quarterfinals feature Sri Lanka facing Nepal and Bangladesh taking on Malaysia on Tuesday. According to we would have been happy to play here with India — our players are in form,”, Afghanistan’s Mohammad Akram. “We played two matches here on this ground, so we know the condition very well.
In the upcoming semifinal fixtures, India will face the winner between Sri Lanka and Nepal, while Pakistan will square off against either Bangladesh or Malaysia. India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka entered the competition directly at the quarterfinal stage as seeded teams.
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