The BCCI and the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) are reportedly dissatisfied with the arrangements and facilities in Japan for the Asian Games 2026 and the Indian board might consider sending an India ‘B’ team to the cricket event.
The Asian Games will begin in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, on September 19. The dates of the women's and men's cricket competitions are September 17–22 and September 24–October 3, respectively.
According to a BCCI source, the board and ACC are dissatisfied with the facilities and arrangements for cricket players in Japan, and a BCCI observer may be dispatched there. BCCI may think about sending a "B" team to the competition if the facilities are deemed inadequate.
"BCCI and ACC are not happy with the facilities and arrangements in Japan, and the board will send an observer there. The observer will submit its report to us, and if arrangements are not up to the mark, we could consider sending a B team there.
We told Japan Olympics officials during the ACC in a meeting that the dressing rooms were set up in tents and washrooms were just 500 m away from those tents, which has created an unsatisfying situation for the players. Also, the hotel rooms are really small, and it is a big concern,” the BCCI source told ANI.
Team India secured a gold medal in both the men’s and women’s events in the previous edition at Hangzhou, China, back in 2023. The men’s team was adjudged the winner based on a higher seeding over Afghanistan after the final was washed out.
The left-handed batting four of Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ishan Kishan, and Tilak Varma, as well as renowned pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh, comprise India's full-strength lineup for the Asian Games.
India men's T20I squad for Asian Games:
Shreyas Iyer (C), Sanju Samson (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan (wk), Shivam Dube, Tilak Varma (VC), Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Varun Chakravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Jasprit Bumrah.
Indian women's T20I squad for Asian Games
Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Smriti Mandhana (VC), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (WK), G. Kamalini (WK), Bharti Fulmali, Sree Charani, Renuka Thakur, Kranti Gaud, Arundhati Reddy, Shreyanka Patil, Radha Yadav, Nandni Sharma.
(ANI inputs)
