Suryakumar, Harmanpreet, Mandhana, Hardik set to feature for India in cricket in Asian Games 2026- Report

Asian Games 2026 will be held in Japan's Aichi and Nagoya prefectures.

Ahead of the upcoming 2026 Asian Games that will be held in Japan, it has been reported that the BCCI is taking the men’s and women’s cricket events at the Games seriously and hence has sent across the names of all major cricketers in both categories to the Indian Olympic Association (IOA).

The Asian Games will be held in Japan's Aichi and Nagoya prefectures from September 19 to October 4, 2026. Cricket will be played by ten men's and eight women's teams at the Korogi Athletic Park in Aichi prefecture.

Regular India captains Suryakumar Yadav and Harmanpreet Kaur are poised to lead their teams in the T20 format game. All of the key Indian cricketers in both the men's and women's events are expected to be included on the Indian contingent list, which will be submitted to the Games' Organizing Committee (OC) at the end of next month.

“India will send its ‘A’ team when the final names are decided at the end of May. The BCCI has sent the names of leading men and women cricketers to the IOA. All the top cricketers will be available for selection,” a source told TOI.

According to sources, the men's long list includes current T20 skipper Yadav, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, and Rinku Singh.

Similarly, the women's lengthy list includes Harmanpreet, vice-captain Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, Renuka Thakur, Sneh Rana, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh, Arundhati Reddy, Shreyanka Patil, Kranti Gaud, and Sree Charani.

“India are the defending champions, having won gold in both men's and women's categories at the Hangzhou Asiad in 2023. With the inclusion of cricket at the LA Games, multisport events such as the Asiad and Olympics have become important,” the source added.

India's all-format coach, Gautam Gambhir, has previously stated that winning gold at the LA Games remains one of his top priorities.

Due to a crowded international calendar, the BCCI previously considered sending a second-best men's squad, consisting primarily of rising players, to multisport competitions. However, in the women's team tournament, the board normally prefers to send senior 'A' list players.

“This time, there are no international fixtures planned for both teams during the duration of the Games,” the source said.

(Times of India report)