The most anticipated fixture in cricket will not happen in the early rounds at the Nagoya Asian Games. If India and Pakistan meet at all, it will be for a medal. The draw for the tournament, which runs from September 19 to October 4, has been structured in a way that keeps the arch-rivals on opposite sides of the bracket until the very end, meaning their paths can only converge in the gold-medal match or the bronze-medal play-off.
India vs Pakistan Match Will Not Occur in Asian Games Group Stages
Both nations have been seeded directly into the quarterfinals of the men’s competition, alongside Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, bypassing the group stage entirely. India are placed in Quarterfinal 2 and Pakistan in Quarterfinal 1, with both matches scheduled for September 28. The remaining six teams, including Afghanistan, Nepal, Hong Kong, China, Japan, Malaysia and Oman, will compete in the group stage for the right to face the seeded sides.
The semifinal structure ensures the separation continues. Winners of India’s quarterfinal will face the winners of Quarterfinal 3, while Pakistan’s path leads to the winners of Quarterfinal 4. Both semifinals are set for October 1, and the gold-medal match and bronze-medal play-off are scheduled for October 3 at Paloma Mizuho Stadium in Nagoya, the venue for all cricket matches at the Games.
The women’s draw follows a similar pattern, though with slightly different seedings. India are the top-seeded side in the women’s event, while Pakistan come in at fourth, behind Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. India face Japan in the quarterfinals and would meet either Bangladesh or Hong Kong in the semis. Pakistan face Thailand in their quarterfinal. A women’s India-Pakistan clash, should it materialise, would also be confined to either the final or the third-place play-off, with both scheduled for September 22.
The competition across both men’s and women’s events will be played in T20 format. India have already announced their squads, with Shreyas Iyer leading the men’s side and Harmanpreet Kaur captaining the women’s team.
There is, of course, no guarantee the two sides will meet at all. The tournament bracket leaves room for upsets, and neither India nor Pakistan are guaranteed passage to the medal rounds. But the structure of the draw means the cricket world will only get its India-Pakistan fix at the Asian Games if both teams do what is expected of them. And if they do, when they do, the stakes will be as high as they get.
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