India reach the Asian Games semi-finals as rain washes out the Afghanistan quarter-final

India were carried into the Asian Games semi-finals without facing a ball after rain washed out their quarter-final against Afghanistan in Nisshin

The tie at Korogi Sports Park was called off on Monday before a toss could be held, persistent rain leaving the square and outfield unfit for play. It was the first time India's men had been scheduled to take the field at these Games.

Under the competition's playing conditions, a knockout match lost to the weather goes to the better-seeded team, and seeding follows the ICC men's T20I rankings. India are ranked first in that list and Afghanistan tenth, so the defending champions went through and Afghanistan went out without losing a game.

It was the second quarter-final of the day settled that way. Earlier at the same ground, Pakistan advanced at the expense of Hong Kong China when their tie was also abandoned.

A day the rain never relented

The forecast had threatened the fixture well before the players arrived, and conditions never improved enough for the officials to set a start time.

With the tournament running to a tight schedule between the group stage and the medal matches, there was no reserve day to fall back on, and the quarter-final was abandoned rather than reduced.

India therefore leave the quarter-final stage having bowled no overs and batted none, their preparation for the knockout rounds limited to what they have done away from the middle.

Two of the four quarter-finals were staged on Monday and neither produced a delivery, leaving the tournament's opening knockout day as a complete write-off.

The rule that decided the tie

Seeding, not a bowl-out or a shared result, is the tiebreak the Asian Games use once the knockout rounds begin, and it is applied on the published rankings rather than on form at the tournament.

That left no ambiguity on Monday. India sit at the top of the T20I table; Afghanistan, tenth, had nothing to place against it.

For an Afghanistan side that had travelled with a young squad, the exit is a harsh one: they were beaten by the weather and the table, not by an opponent.

Hong Kong China, ranked outside the top ten and drawn against a Pakistan side well above them in the same table, were removed from the competition on the same basis earlier in the day.

An echo of Hangzhou

Afghanistan have been here before, and against the same opponent. The men's gold-medal match at the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou was also washed out, and India were awarded the title as the higher-ranked side.

Three years on, the same rule has again separated the two teams, this time a round earlier and with a place in the last four rather than a gold medal at stake.

Iyer's side wait on the bracket

Shreyas Iyer is leading India at the Games, with Tilak Varma as his deputy and VVS Laxman in charge as stand-in head coach.

The squad is a mix of established international cricketers and players pushing for wider recognition, among them Jasprit Bumrah, Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar and Arshdeep Singh.

India's semi-final opponents will come from Tuesday's quarter-final between Sri Lanka and Nepal, the third of the four ties and one of two still to be played at the same rain-hit venue.

The last of the quarter-finals, between Bangladesh and Malaysia, follows later on Tuesday and completes a bracket that the weather has already done much to shape.

A medal already banked

India's women have their part of the job done, having defended the Asian Games title they won in Hangzhou.

The men's side now has three days before it is asked to match them, with the semi-finals scheduled for October 1 and the medal matches to follow.

India's men reach the last four of the Asian Games without having played a competitive over at the tournament.

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