India's cricket matches at Asian Games to start early

The start time of some men’s cricket knockout matches at the Asian Games have been advanced by 30 minutes. According to the revised schedule, the afternoon men’s matches will begin at 1.30 pm instead of the originally announced 2 pm. There is, however, no adjustment in the timings of the women’s games.

The Indian men have been given a direct entry into the quarter-finals of the Aichi-Nagoya Games 2026, with their first match scheduled to start at 1.30 pm local time. With Japan 3 hours and 30 minutes ahead of India, the match will begin at 10 am IST. The start of the morning games remain unchanged. They will begin at 9 am local time, or 5.30 am IST.

The same goes for the second semi-final and the gold-medal contest, with both matches beginning at 1.30 pm Japan Time. The change in timings has still not been communicated to all those involved. Indian Olympic Association (IOA) officials say they are not aware of the change, although the timings have been updated on the official website.

Precisely, the changes apply to the second quarter-final on September 28, which India will play, the second semi-final on October 1, which India are likely to feature in, and the gold-medal game on October 3. The first quarter-final, involving Pakistan, the first semi-final and the bronze-medal play-off will begin at 9 am local time.

There is also no change in the timings of the preliminary-round games involving Afghanistan, Japan, Nepal, Hong Kong (China), Malaysia and Oman. There is no change for the women’s games either, which begin directly from the quarter-finals. All those games begin at 9 am and 2 pm local time.

Sources say the adjustment was necessitated because it gets dark early in Japan. With no lights at the venue, it was thought prudent to start the matches earlier, particularly as men’s games are likely to last longer.

India’s T20I against Japan, that is not part of the Games schedule, on September 22 at Sano International Stadium will begin at 1 pm JST – 9.30 am IST

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