India meet Sri Lanka in the Asian Games semi-final without having bowled a ball

India have yet to bowl a ball at the Asian Games and will reach the gold-medal match without one if the rain returns to Nisshin on Thursday

India meet Sri Lanka in the second men's semi-final at Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin on Thursday, a match scheduled for 2pm local time, 10.30am IST. Bangladesh and Pakistan play the first semi-final earlier in the day at the same ground.

Neither side has taken the field in the tournament. All four quarter-finals on 28 and 29 September were abandoned without a toss as rain sat over Aichi prefecture, and the four seeded teams advanced on their standing in the ICC men's T20I rankings.

The same rule governs the last four. If Thursday's match cannot produce a result, the higher-ranked team goes through — India here, Pakistan in the other half — and the defending champions would reach a second successive final without a completed match.

Four quarter-finals and no cricket

India's quarter-final against Afghanistan was called off on Monday, as was Pakistan's against Hong Kong, China. Sri Lanka's meeting with Nepal and Bangladesh's with Malaysia went the same way a day later, the Sri Lanka match abandoned before the toss after rain arrived hours before the start.

The knockout schedule carries no reserve days, so an abandoned match is settled by the rankings rather than replayed. Afghanistan, Nepal, Malaysia and Hong Kong, China were all ranked below their opponents, and four teams went out of the tournament without facing a delivery.

India know the mechanism well. Their gold at the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou was decided the same way, when rain washed out the final against Afghanistan and the higher seed was awarded the title.

A full-strength India with no time in the middle

India have sent a first-choice group to Japan. Shreyas Iyer captains, with Tilak Varma as his deputy, and the squad includes Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Shivam Dube and Ravi Bishnoi.

What it has not had is cricket. The weather that removed the quarter-final also cut into training at Korogi Sports Park, leaving the batters in particular without a competitive innings since arriving.

Iyer refuses the excuse

Speaking before the quarter-final, Iyer declined to treat the conditions as a problem worth discussing. "Yes, rain is there, but that is the reason we can't give up because we have decided that we are a bunch of professionals and all these hurdles will keep coming," he said. "We have to be prepared mentally irrespective of whatever the situation is going to be."

He described a squad improvising around the downpours. "Today when we woke up, we thought that we would be getting a little bit of practice sessions and knew that we would be playing on turf. But as soon as we arrived, the rain started again," Iyer said. "It is not just normal rain, it's torrential downpour."

His stated priority was simple enough: "The primary importance is to come and play the match."

Sri Lanka arrive under a new captain

Sri Lanka are led by Sahan Arachchige, with Niroshan Dickwella keeping wicket. The 15-man squad also carries Nuwan Thushara, Chamika Karunaratne, Binura Fernando, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, Dushan Hemantha, Ashen Bandara and Nuwanidu Fernando.

They were eliminated at the quarter-final stage in 2023 and have reached the last four this time without playing, their meeting with Nepal lost to the same weather system.

A forecast that has improved rather than cleared

Thursday looks better than the days that preceded it without being safe. AccuWeather's outlook for Nisshin is for mainly clear conditions with showers around and a 70 per cent chance of rain across the day.

The medal matches on Saturday 3 October sit under a far kinder forecast, a 19 per cent chance of rain, with the bronze-medal match at 9am local time and the gold-medal match at 2pm.

Saturday is the tournament's last chance to be settled on the field rather than on the rankings table.

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