Afghanistan vs Japan Asian Games 2026: Afghanistan defeated Japan by 48 runs in the Asian Games 2026. The entire Japanese team was bowled out for 81 runs.
Afghanistan beat Japan
Afghanistan defeated Japan by 48 runs. This was the first match of the men's cricket competition at the 2026 Asian Games. Batting first, the Afghan team scored 129 runs in their allotted 20 overs. In response, host Japan managed just 81 runs. The top two teams from Group A will advance to the quarterfinals. Nepal is also in Group A, along with Afghanistan and Japan.
The match was played at the Korogi Sports Park. The pitch here was difficult for batting, so the Afghan team could only score 129 runs. Despite this, they won by a huge margin of 48 runs. Since senior Afghan players are not part of the Asian Games team, the captaincy has been handed to Dar Wish Rasooli. Rasooli scored 29 runs, while Mohammad Akram contributed 34 runs.
Afghanistan's bumper win
Afghanistan bowled tightly. At one point, Rio Sakurano-Thomas and captain Kendall Fleming were leading Japan to victory. Japan maintained a run rate of over 6 and had lost only two wickets at 53. But then, Japan's entire batting line-up collapsed in a flash. The last eight wickets fell for just 28 runs.
Arab Gul wreaked havoc for Afghanistan, dismissing four batsmen for just eight runs in four overs, including two maiden overs. Nangeyaliya Kharoti took three wickets and Abdullah Ahmadzai two. Eight Japanese batsmen failed to reach double figures.
The race for the quarterfinals
India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh were granted direct quarterfinal berths based on their higher rankings. However, Afghanistan, Nepal, and Japan in Group A, and Oman, Malaysia, and Hong Kong in Group B will have to overcome the challenges of the group stage to reach the quarterfinals.
The top two teams in each group will advance to the quarterfinals. This means one team from Afghanistan, Japan, and Nepal will be eliminated, while the remaining two will advance to the final eight. The second-place team in this group will face Team India in the quarterfinals on September 28th.
