Rain Sends India Into the Asian Games Cricket Semis

India reached the Asian Games men’s cricket semi-finals on 28 September without bowling a ball, after rain washed out their quarter-final against Afghanistan in Nisshin. The defending champions go through because they sit No. 1 in the men’s T20I rankings, with Afghanistan 10th.

It is the second time in two Asian Games that rain and a ranking table have settled an India-Afghanistan knockout.

Rain Ends the Quarter-Final Before the Toss

Umpires called the match off at 1.15pm local time at Korogi Sports Park, about 45 minutes before the scheduled 2pm start, with no toss and no play possible. Heavy rain had already washed out Pakistan’s quarter-final against Hong Kong, China earlier in the morning, and the outfield never recovered.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India posted the verdict as soon as the abandonment was confirmed.

🚨 Match Abandoned 🚨

The #INDvAFG Asian Games 2026 Quarter-Final has been called off due to rain. #TeamIndia advance to the semi-final by virtue of higher seeding. #AsianGames

— BCCI (@BCCI) September 28, 2026

India, led here by Shreyas Iyer, arrived in Japan as back-to-back T20 world champions and as the side that became the first side to retain the T20 World Cup in 2026. The ICC table dated 3 September 2026 gives India 16,366 points and a rating of 268 from 61 matches. Afghanistan have 7,935 points and a rating of 220 from 36 matches, which left no argument once the covers stayed on.

India now wait for Sri Lanka against Nepal on 29 September. If that tie is also abandoned, Sri Lanka go through as the ninth-ranked side against Nepal in 16th. Semi-finals are listed for 1 October in Nisshin.

Hangzhou’s Gold Came From the Same Rule

On 7 October 2023 in Hangzhou, India were awarded men’s cricket gold after the final was abandoned with Afghanistan 112 for 5 in 18.2 overs. India never faced a ball in that innings. The title went to the higher T20 seed, and Afghanistan took silver for a third Games in a row.

Monday’s quarter-final did not even get that far. There was no first innings, no super sopper window that mattered, and no spare day written into the knockout draw. The rule that closed Hangzhou opened Nisshin.

RAIN KNOCKOUTS, SAME RANKING TEST

Pakistan sit sixth on 13,679 points. Hong Kong sit 24th on 6,215. Both Monday quarter-finals therefore moved on the same arithmetic, and both did it before a ball was bowled.

Under the Covers, Afghanistan’s Tournament Ends

Afghanistan walked off with Afghanistan’s third successive men’s silver already in the record books from Guangzhou 2010, Incheon 2014 and Hangzhou 2023. They have never won the Asian Games men’s title. Bangladesh took gold in 2010, Sri Lanka in 2014, and India in 2023.

The side named in Nisshin was a second-string XI under captain Darwish Rasooli, with Najibullah Zadran and Karim Janat among the experienced names who did travel. They never got to use them. A knockout with no reserve day means a wet morning is an elimination, not a delay.

India’s women had already kept their gold in Aichi-Nagoya, beating Sri Lanka in the final, with Pakistan taking bronze. The men are trying to defend a title that rain also decided last time, and they will do it without a competitive over at these Games so far.

Why These Knockouts Carry No Spare Day

Most cricket finals at this level keep a reserve day. The Asian Games knockout book does not. When a quarter-final, semi-final or final cannot produce a result, the higher ICC T20I seed is named the winner. That is not a rumour about the rules. It is how Hangzhou’s gold was signed, and it is how both of Monday’s ties were signed.

Iyer had already been asked about the forecast on Sunday, before the toss that never came.

Rain is there, but that is the reason we can’t give up because we have decided that we are a bunch of professionals and all these hurdles will keep coming.

Shreyas Iyer, India captain, speaking on Sunday

The hurdle on Monday was simpler than a wet ball. It was a ground that never came out of the covers. Another washed-out session in Nisshin would again hand a semi-final, and in a full washout a gold, to the top seed. India are that seed. The table that put them in the last four is the same table that could yet put a medal round their necks without a completed innings.

Manu Bhaker Leaves Nagoya Without a Medal

While the cricket died in the rain, the shooting gallery at the Aichi Prefectural General Shooting Gallery produced a harder kind of exit. Two-time Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker finished 11th in women’s 25m pistol qualification on 579-18x and missed the eight-woman final. She had already finished fifth in 10m air pistol with 181.1. Her Asian Games are over without a medal.

Esha Singh took the last final slot on 580-22x, winning a 580-point tie with Yen-Ching Cheng of Chinese Taipei on inner tens (22x to 20x). The individual final was listed for 10.45am IST. Singh went there as India’s only 25m pistol finalist, not as a medallist yet.

25M PISTOL SCORES, 28 SEPTEMBER

• Esha Singh: 580-22x, eighth, into the individual final.
• Manu Bhaker: 579-18x, 11th, out of the individual event.
• Rahi Sarnobat: 568-16x, 30th, after a 39 in her first rapid series when a shot hit the frame.
• India team: 1727-56x, fifth, behind China 1743-68x, South Korea 1735-65x and Chinese Taipei 1734-48x.

India had been close enough to China in the team event for a missed rapid shot to drop them out of the medals. Sarnobat’s frame hit ended that chase. The mixed 10m air pistol gold of Suruchi Singh and Kamaljeet remains India’s only pistol gold of the Games.

The Matches That Did Reach a Scoreline

Pincky Balhara made sure India still had a new medal coming from a sport that actually finished its bout. The 27-year-old beat South Korea’s Lim Garam 3-0 in the women’s 78kg kurash quarter-final, a win that puts her in the semi-finals and guarantees at least bronze. She won silver at Jakarta in 2018. A ‘Chala’ gave her the decisive score, and Lim did not register a point.

The men’s volleyball team took a second straight pool win, 3-0 over Hong Kong, China (25-22, 25-19, 25-21), after earlier beating Vietnam. Qatar is next on 29 September. The women’s squash team opened with a 2-1 win over China, Tanvi Khanna and Joshna Chinappa taking straight-game points after Shameena Riaz had lost in five. In compound archery, Ganesh Mani Ratnam Thirumuru edged Sahil Jadhav 149-148 in an all-Indian 1/8 and moved into the quarter-finals.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on Sunday already congratulated Ancy Sojan, Anahat Singh and Abhay Singh, the silver medallists from long jump and the two squash singles finals. Those medals are in the book. Monday’s cricket column is not.

A 37-Medal Haul and 12th Place

India closed 27 September, Day 8, with a haul that is large in count and thin in gold.

INDIA AFTER DAY 8

• Gold: 4, from mixed 10m air pistol, both kabaddi teams, and women’s cricket.
• Silver: 16, including Anahat and Abhay in squash singles and Ancy Sojan in the long jump.
• Bronze: 17.
• Total / rank: 37 medals, 12th on the table, with China on 119 golds that morning.

Hangzhou 2023 ended with 106 Indian medals, 28 of them gold. Aichi-Nagoya is still a long way short of that gold count, and a rain-assisted cricket medal, if it comes, will not change how the rest of the programme has to be won.

India’s cricketers are in the last four because a ranking list said so when the covers never came off. Sri Lanka or Nepal will tell them on 29 September whether that list has to speak again.