India will take on Afghanistan in the men’s cricket quarter-final at the Asian Games 2026, with the complete last-eight line-up now confirmed. Afghanistan advanced from Group A in second place, and that finishing position determined their knockout-stage opponent as the Shreyas Iyer-led Indian side.
The Group A standings were settled after rain prevented any play in the Afghanistan versus Nepal fixture on Saturday, September 26. Nepal had already defeated Afghanistan on Friday, and that victory, combined with the abandoned match, lifted Nepal to the top of Group A. As a result, Nepal will face Sri Lanka in the quarter-finals, while Afghanistan meet India.
India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh secured direct qualification for the quarter-finals. Of all the sides taking part in the tournament, only India and Bangladesh have assembled full-strength squads for the competition. The team captained by Shreyas Iyer is widely regarded as the gold medal favourite heading into the knockout rounds.
What does the Asian Games 2026 men’s cricket quarter-final bracket look like?
The confirmed quarter-final pairings include India against Afghanistan and Nepal against Sri Lanka. Pakistan and Bangladesh, both direct qualifiers, are also through to the last eight, though their specific opponents in the quarter-finals are not confirmed in the available evidence.
Nepal’s route to the knockout stage was shaped by two successive Group A results. Their win over Afghanistan on Friday gave them the points advantage, and the subsequent abandonment on Saturday meant Afghanistan could not overtake them at the top of the table. That sequence of results locked in both sides’ quarter-final opponents and completed the Group A picture ahead of the knockout stage.
India enter the quarter-finals as the tournament favourites. At the previous Asian Games, the Men in Blue claimed gold under the captaincy of Ruturaj Gaikwad. On that occasion, India sent a second-string squad, yet the other competing nations were unable to match them, underlining the depth of Indian cricket at this level.
Who is in India’s squad for the Asian Games 2026?
India have named a strong group for the tournament, with Tilak Varma confirmed as Shreyas Iyer’s deputy. The squad features Jasprit Bumrah, Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, among others, reflecting the selectors’ intent to field a full-strength side and secure back-to-back gold medals at the Asian Games.
Pakistan, one of the four direct qualifiers, will be captained by Sahibzada Farhan. Their squad does not feature Babar Azam, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf or Naseem Shah, making it a significantly changed group compared to their usual white-ball line-ups. Bangladesh, like India, have named a full-strength squad, which means the two sides stand apart from the rest of the field in terms of personnel available for the competition.
