Published: 10:08 AM, 26 July 2026
Bangladesh earn direct quarter-final spot at Asian Games cricket
General view of the trophy as the Bangladesh players line up during the national anthems before the match in Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on September 24, 2025. -Reuters
Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka have received direct entry into the men's cricket quarter-finals at the 2026 Asian Games, report by UNB.
The men's T20 tournament begins on September 24 in Nagoya with a six-team preliminary round to decide the remaining four quarter-finalists.
Afghanistan, Japan and Nepal were drawn in Group A, while Hong Kong, Malaysia and Oman will compete in Group B. The top two teams from each group will progress to the knockout stage, where they will join the four seeded sides.
The women's competition, scheduled for September 17-22, will start at the quarter-final stage.
Bangladesh will open their campaign against China, while defending champions India face hosts Japan. Sri Lanka meet Malaysia, and Pakistan take on Thailand.
All matches in both competitions will be played in the T20 format.
At the previous Asian Games in Hangzhou, delayed until 2023 because of the Covid-19 pandemic, India won both the men's and women's cricket titles. The men's final against Afghanistan was washed out by rain, with India awarded the gold medal as the higher-seeded team. India's women defeated Sri Lanka in the final.
Bangladesh's men's team finished fourth after losing to Pakistan in the bronze-medal match. The women's side also fell short of a medal, losing to Pakistan in the third-place playoff.
Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) will hold a short training camp ahead of the national team's two-match Test series against Australia next month.
The Bangladesh team had recently returned home after a lengthy tour of Zimbabwe, where they played across all three formats. Bangladesh lost the one-off Test and the three-match ODI series before salvaging the tour by winning the three-match T20 International series.
Australia have already announced a full-strength squad, led by Pat Cummins, indicating they are taking Bangladesh seriously despite playing on home soil. Bangladesh are yet to name their squad, with the selectors awaiting fitness updates on several players. Pace spearhead Taskin Ahmed has opted out of the Lanka Premier League (LPL) despite receiving a no-objection certificate (NOC).
, choosing instead to remain in Bangladesh to prepare for the Australia tour. Bangladesh are set to play a Test series in Australia for the first time since 2003.
Fast bowler EbadotHossain will miss the tour as he and his wife are expecting their first child.
The BCB is also awaiting the fitness reports of Liton Das and NahidRana before finalising the squad.
Litton travelled to Singapore for a scan on a calf injury that has troubled him since June, while Rana underwent scans on Wednesday after sustaining a side strain during the second T20 International against Zimbabwe.
Meanwhile, the board has retained TalhaZubair as the national team's interim pace bowling coach while it continues its search for a permanent replacement for Shaun Tait.
Talha oversaw the pace bowling unit during the Zimbabwe tour, with Bangladesh's fast bowlers producing encouraging performances despite the team's mixed results.
Bangladesh will open the two-match Test series against Australia in Darwin on August 13 before the second and final Test begins in Mackay on August 22.
