Rain wipes out every Asian Games quarter-final and sends India through to meet Sri Lanka

Rain has washed out all four men's quarter-finals at the Asian Games, sending India through to a semi-final against Sri Lanka without a ball being bowled in the round

India will play Sri Lanka on October 1 for a place in the men's cricket final in Aichi-Nagoya, after Sri Lanka's quarter-final against Nepal was abandoned without a toss at Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin on Tuesday.

Rain had been falling for several hours before the scheduled 9am start and never eased. Sri Lanka went through as the higher-seeded side, the same route India took a day earlier when their tie with Afghanistan was called off.

Bangladesh's quarter-final against Malaysia went the same way later on Tuesday, leaving the knockout round complete without a single delivery and the last four settled entirely by the tournament's seedings.

A round decided before the toss

Monday's two quarter-finals, Pakistan against Hong Kong and India against Afghanistan, were both abandoned as rain sat over the Nagoya region.

Tuesday brought no relief. Nepal's match with Sri Lanka was called off in the morning and Bangladesh's with Malaysia in the afternoon, all four ties staged at the same ground.

Competition rules award an abandoned match to the higher-seeded team, and the seedings follow the ICC men's T20I rankings. Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh advanced on that basis.

The competition began on September 24, with the six unseeded teams playing a group stage to reach the quarter-finals.

Nepal and Malaysia go out without a result

Nepal leave Japan having opened their campaign with a five-wicket win over Afghanistan in the group stage.

Their final group game, against Japan, was cut to 15 overs and then abandoned as well. Rain has been close to constant in the region since Saturday.

Malaysia and Hong Kong also exit without facing a ball in the knockout stage.

India defending a gold won in similar weather

India reach the semi-final defending the title they won at the last Games in Hangzhou, where the final against Afghanistan was washed out and the gold medal went to the higher-ranked side.

VVS Laxman is again in charge, having coached that side, with Sunil Joshi, Hrishikesh Kanitkar and Subhadeep Ghosh assisting him. Laxman is director of cricket at the BCCI Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru.

Regular head coach Gautam Gambhir stayed at home with the senior side for the ODI series against West Indies, which began on September 27.

Iyer's squad still waiting for a game

Shreyas Iyer captains the side with Tilak Varma as his deputy, and the seeded teams entered the competition at the quarter-final stage.

That means a squad containing Jasprit Bumrah, Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakaravarthy, Arshdeep Singh and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has yet to take the field in Japan.

Yash Thakur is in the squad in place of Harshit Rana, who suffered a rectus femoris strain in a match simulation on September 7.

Sri Lanka went out at the quarter-final stage in Hangzhou, beaten by Afghanistan.

What is left to play for

Bangladesh meet Pakistan in the first semi-final at 9am local time on October 1, with India against Sri Lanka at 2pm, both at Korogi Sports Park.

Bangladesh are without Najmul Hossain Shanto, who flew home to Dhaka on Tuesday after four days of fever. "It is a low-grade fever, and tests conducted here have confirmed evidence of infection, although he has tested negative for influenza and COVID-19," team physio Bayjedul Islam Khan said.

The bronze and gold medal matches are scheduled for October 3 at the same venue.

India's women have already retained their title in Aichi-Nagoya, beating Sri Lanka in the final under Harmanpreet Kaur.

India have not yet faced a ball in Japan, and two days of cricket now stand between them and a second successive gold medal.

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