Bangladesh go through without a ball bowled as rain reshapes the Asian Games quarter-finals

Bangladesh Women reached the Asian Games semi-finals in Nisshin on Thursday without facing a single delivery, after a wet outfield forced their quarter-final against China to be abandoned

The match at Korogi Sports Park never got as far as a toss. Rain had eased well before the scheduled start, but the outfield at the 2,000-capacity ground in Aichi Prefecture stayed too wet through repeated inspections, and the officials called the game off with no play possible.

Under the competition's playing conditions, a knockout match that produces no result goes to the higher-ranked side. Bangladesh sit tenth in the ICC Women's T20I rankings and China 36th, so Nigar Sultana Joty's team went through to the last four without playing.

Pakistan joined them later in the day, surviving an 11-over shootout against Thailand to win by three wickets with two balls remaining. The two quarter-finals still to come, including defending champions India against hosts Japan, are played on Friday.

A quarter-final that never started

Heavy rain across the Nagoya region in the days before the knockout round had left the ground saturated, and it was the sodden outfield rather than falling rain that kept the players inside.

Groundstaff worked on the square and the run-ups between breaks in the weather, but the surface did not recover enough across the afternoon for the umpires to clear a start.

The match was abandoned without a ball bowled and without the captains reaching the middle for the toss. China, 36th in the world and playing in the knockout round of a tournament that has no group stage, were out of it without having had a chance to compete.

Seeding settles the first quarter-final

The women's competition is an eight-team straight knockout with no group stage, so a quarter-final is a side's first match of the Games and can be its only one.

Seedings were set on the ICC T20I rankings as of 23 July 2026, with India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka drawn as the four seeded teams.

That gap in the rankings, rather than anything that happened on the field, decided the first quarter-final. Bangladesh go into a semi-final without having played a competitive match at the tournament.

Pakistan squeeze through in 11 overs

The second quarter-final did get on, though only in cut-down form, with the weather reducing it to 11 overs a side.

Pakistan opted to bowl, and Thailand posted 91 for 4 from their 11 overs.

Pakistan replied with 92 for 7 in 10.4 overs, getting home by three wickets with two balls to spare after the chase went deep into the final over.

The win puts Pakistan into a semi-final against the winner of Sri Lanka and Malaysia, who meet in the remaining Friday quarter-final.

India and Japan decide Bangladesh's opponent

India Women, the defending champions and the top seeds, play hosts Japan in the last of the four quarter-finals on Friday at the same ground.

The winner takes on Bangladesh in the semi-final on 20 September, with Pakistan's semi-final against the Sri Lanka–Malaysia winner played the same day.

It gives India's quarter-final a weight beyond the result itself, since the side that comes through it inherits a last-four tie against a Bangladesh team that will have been idle since the washout.

The regulation still applies

Every remaining knockout match, the semi-finals and the medal matches included, is played at Korogi Sports Park, a single venue with a capacity of 2,000.

The women's tournament runs to 22 September, when the gold medal match is scheduled, with the men's competition following later in the month.

The playing condition that carried Bangladesh through stays in force for the rest of the round, which leaves the seedings as the tie-breaker should the weather intervene again.

Bangladesh will learn their semi-final opponent on Friday, when India and Japan meet in the last quarter-final at Korogi Sports Park.

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