India await their Asian Games quarter-final opponent after Nepal upset Afghanistan

India begin their Asian Games title defence in the quarter-finals on September 28, and Nepal's five-wicket win over Afghanistan has left the identity of their opponent open

Nepal beat Afghanistan at Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin on September 25, holding them to 102 for 7 and reaching 103 for 5 in 17.2 overs. It was Nepal's first match of the men's tournament and Afghanistan's second.

The result left Group A unresolved. Afghanistan had won their opening fixture against Japan, so the group now turns on Japan against Nepal on September 26, the last of the three round-robin matches.

A Nepal win would put them top and leave Afghanistan second. A Japan win would leave all three teams on a single victory, with net run rate deciding which of them India face.

India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh were seeded directly into the last eight on continental T20I rankings and have not played in Japan yet. Shreyas Iyer's side meet whichever team finishes second in Group A.

Spin settles the Afghanistan match

Kushal Bhurtel took 4-21 and Lalit Rajbanshi 3-13 as Nepal's spinners shared seven wickets between them, with Najibullah Zadran's 30 the most substantial of Afghanistan's contributions on a slow surface.

Nepal lost half their side in the chase but got home with 16 balls to spare, Sundeep Jora making 34 and Rohit Paudel finishing unbeaten on 33.

Hong Kong keep Group B open

In the other group, Hong Kong beat Oman by 41 runs on the same day, posting 121 for 8 and restricting Oman to 80 for 6.

Malaysia had won their opening match against Hong Kong, which leaves Malaysia against Oman on September 26 to decide the order. Pakistan play the Group B runner-up in the first quarter-final.

What the seeding gives India

The quarter-finals are spread across September 28 and 29, with India's the second of them. Sri Lanka face the Group A winner on September 29, and Bangladesh meet the side that tops Group B.

The semi-finals follow on October 1, with the bronze and gold medal matches on October 3. India are defending both the men's and women's titles they won at Hangzhou in 2023.

That men's gold arrived in unusual circumstances. Rain ended the Hangzhou final against Afghanistan before India batted, and the title went to India as the higher-seeded side. The same two teams could meet again in Nisshin.

The whole competition, men's and women's, is being staged at the one ground in Nisshin, on the edge of Nagoya, over ten days.

A first-choice T20 squad in Japan

Iyer leads a squad with Tilak Varma as vice-captain and Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi and Harshit Rana among the bowling options.

Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, Shivam Dube, Vipraj Nigam and the teenaged Vaibhav Sooryavanshi complete a batting group drawn almost entirely from India's T20 international pool. VVS Laxman is in charge of the side in Japan.

The tournament runs alongside India's home ODI series against West Indies, which starts in Thiruvananthapuram on September 27 with an entirely separate squad under Shubman Gill.

The women have already delivered

India's women took the first gold of the country's campaign in Nagoya, beating Sri Lanka in the final, with Smriti Mandhana passing 11,000 international runs along the way, according to the BCCI.

That result means the men arrive with the women's half of the defence already completed, and with Afghanistan, Nepal or Japan waiting in three days' time.

India's quarter-final at Korogi Sports Park on September 28 will be their first match of the tournament, two days after Group A is settled.

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