India and Pakistan can meet only in medal matches at Asian Games 2026

India and Pakistan will not face each other more than once in the Asian Games cricket tournament in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, according to a Cricbuzz report; the cricket competition runs from September 17 to October 3 as part of the Asian Games scheduled from September 19 to October 4.

The tournament draw places the two sides on opposite halves, meaning encounters between the arch‑rivals can occur only in a medal match in both the men's and women's events. The format prevents an India-Pakistan group-stage meeting and leaves open the possibility that they might not play each other at all if they do not reach the same medal match.

The men's competition features 10 teams with India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka granted direct entry to the quarter-finals. India have been assigned to Quarter-final 2 and Pakistan to Quarter-final 1, with both seeded teams due to play on September 28 against opponents emerging from the preliminary stage.

The remaining six teams, including Afghanistan, must advance through the group stage to reach the last eight. Nepal, Hong Kong, China, Japan, Malaysia and Oman are listed as part of the preliminary round.

Semi-final pairings have been set so the winner of Quarter-final 1 meets the winner of Quarter-final 3, while the winner of Quarter-final 2 meets the winner of Quarter-final 4, with the semi-finals scheduled for October 1. Under that bracket, India and Pakistan cannot meet in the semi-finals; if both sides win their quarter-finals and semi-finals they would meet in the gold-medal match, while losing semi-finalists could meet in the bronze-medal play-off.

The same separation applies in the women's tournament, where India are the top-seeded side and will face Japan in their quarter-final. A win for India would set up a semi-final against either Bangladesh or Hong Kong, China, while fourth-seeded Pakistan will face Thailand in the quarter-final and, if victorious, would meet either Sri Lanka or Malaysia in the semi-finals; the women's final and bronze-medal match are scheduled for September 22.

All cricket matches will be played in the T20 format at Paloma Mizuho Stadium in Nagoya, with the women's tournament staged first and the men's following it. India have already named their squads for the Asian Games, with Shreyas Iyer set to lead the men's team and Harmanpreet Kaur captaining the women's side.

Both men's medal matches — the gold-medal final and the bronze-medal play-off — are scheduled for October 3.