India vs Japan T20I Explained Before the Asian Games

India play Japan in a one-off men’s T20I at the Sano International Cricket Ground in Tochigi Prefecture on Tuesday, September 22, the first T20 international between the two countries. The match starts at 9:30 am IST, which is 1 pm in Japan, and doubles as India’s warm-up for the Asian Games, where they open their title defence on September 28. The bigger question is why the world’s top-ranked T20I side is playing a team ranked in the forties at all. The answer is less about cricket than about diplomacy.

Why India Is Playing Japan at All

The ICC describes the match as the first step of “Sport 75,” an initiative that came out of a summit between Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It aims to promote human exchanges and cooperation in sport between the two countries, and it takes note of India’s ambition to host the 2036 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The fixture is being played as the Suzuki Cup and is tied to the 75th anniversary of India-Japan diplomatic relations. It also gives the Indian squad a few days of local conditions before the Asian Games start in Aichi-Nagoya.

How Big the Gap Is

India are the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup champions and the No. 1 ranked T20I side. Japan have been an ICC Associate member since 2005 and were ranked 41st in the men’s T20I rankings as of early May 2026, according to Wikipedia’s rankings table; the ICC’s own match article does not give a current Japan ranking. The venue is a modest one. Sano’s ground has a capacity of about 2,000 and was used for the East Asia-Pacific sub-regional qualifier for the 2026 T20 World Cup, not for anything on a stadium scale.

The Match at a Glance

Detail	Information
Fixture	Japan v India, one-off men’s T20I (Suzuki Cup)
Date	Tuesday, September 22, 2026
Venue	Sano International Cricket Ground, Tochigi Prefecture
Start	9:30 am IST (1:00 pm Japan time); toss at 9:00 am IST
Status	Official T20 international, the first between the two sides
Captains	Shreyas Iyer (India), Kendel Kadowaki-Fleming (Japan)

Japan are 3.5 hours ahead of India, so a 9:30 am IST start is 1 pm in Tochigi. For anyone converting other times, IndiaRealTime’s IST to Japan time converter does it live. Two listings checked for this article disagree on where the match will be broadcast, one naming Star Sports and FanCode and the other Sony Sports and Sony LIV, so check your provider’s schedule before the start.

The Squads

India (same squad for the Japan game and the Asian Games): Shreyas Iyer (captain), Tilak Varma (vice-captain), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Yash Thakur and Vipraj Nigam. Ruturaj Gaikwad, who captained India to gold at the 2022 Asian Games, is not in the squad. Abhishek is the batter who set India’s fastest-ever T20I century last week.

Japan: a 15-man squad led by Kendel Kadowaki-Fleming, with Wataru Miyauchi and Alex Shirai-Patmore as the wicketkeepers. The rest of the group is Charlie Hara-Hinze, Benjamin Ito-Davis, Alester Kadowaki-Fleming, Kohei Kubota, Jake Kusuda-Nairn, Reo Sakurano-Thomas, Shoma Sugaya-Slater, Declan Suzuki-McComb, Tsuyoshi Takada, Ibrahim Takahashi, Makoto Taniyama and Lachlan Yamamoto-Lake.

What Comes Next at the Asian Games

The men’s Asian Games event is a 10-team tournament. India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh get byes straight into the quarter-finals. The other six teams play a preliminary round in two groups of three: Afghanistan, Japan and Nepal in Group A, and Hong Kong, Malaysia and Oman in Group B. The top two from each group go through.

Stage	Dates
Preliminary groups (Nisshin Cricket Ground, Nagoya)	September 24 to 26
Quarter-finals (India v Group A runners-up on September 28)	September 28 and 29
Semi-finals	October 1
Bronze and gold medal matches	October 3

That schedule adds a wrinkle. India’s first Asian Games opponent is the runner-up of Group A, and Japan are in Group A alongside Afghanistan and Nepal. If Japan finish second, the two sides will meet again six days after Sano, this time with a place in the semi-finals at stake. India’s women have already met Japan once at these Games, bowling them out for 57 and reaching 59 for 2 in five overs to win their quarter-final by eight wickets on September 18.

For live scores and fixtures once the match starts, IndiaRealTime’s live cricket page tracks matches as they happen. Indian fans travelling to Japan for the Games can check the rupee to yen rate before they go. Elsewhere in Indian cricket on IndiaRealTime this week: Zaheer Khan named CSK head coach as the Fleming era ends.

FAQs

When and where is India vs Japan?
Tuesday, September 22, 2026, at the Sano International Cricket Ground in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. The start is 9:30 am IST, which is 1 pm in Japan.

Is this India’s first T20I against Japan?
Yes. The ICC calls it a historic men’s T20I and reports describe it as the first T20 international between the two sides.

Why is India playing Japan?
The match is the first event under Sport 75, a sports-cooperation initiative from the Takaichi and Modi summit, played as the Suzuki Cup for the 75th anniversary of India-Japan relations. It is also a warm-up for the Asian Games.

Who captains India?
Shreyas Iyer, with Tilak Varma as vice-captain. Japan are led by Kendel Kadowaki-Fleming.

When does India’s Asian Games campaign start?
September 28, in the quarter-finals, against the runner-up of Group A. India get a bye because they are among the four top-seeded teams.

Could India meet Japan again at the Asian Games?
Yes, if Japan finish second in Group A, which also has Afghanistan and Nepal.

Sources

• ICC: Japan name squad for historic India T20I in Sano
• ICC: Asian Games cricket, all you need to know
• The Tribune: Indian cricket team lands in Japan for historic one-off T20I
• India.com: India vs Japan one-off T20I, timings, venue and squads
• Oneindia: India vs Japan live, match details and TV channel
• Wikipedia: Japan national cricket team
• Wikipedia: Cricket at the 2026 Asian Games, women’s tournament

Updated September 21, 2026.